Undeniably perfect
by sectionBparagraphA
Summary: Steve had never been one to proclaim his love for someone. Grace had never been one to date someone emotionally unavailable. They meet, get to know each other and decide that despite their growing feelings for each other they would never work. But sometimes fate works in mysterious ways, and maybe you don't always know what's best for you. One shot series, covering all seasons.
1. Info

Hi! And welcome to my own personal universe of Hawaii Five-0- In the beginning I was thinking about writing this story chapter by chapter, but due to a lot of work and school I honestly don't have the time, so instead I am gonna build this story up by using oneshots. So there will be 7 parts, one for each season, and in every part/season there will be a handful of oneshots. They will be written chronologically, but the oneshots will in theory have larger amounts of time between them. I will try my best to post 1 oneshot, if not 2, a week.

If my explanaition is difficult to understand I apologise, I'm not the greatest at this. But if you continue reading you'll understand it.

I hope you enjoy and please leave a review or PM if you have any questions or request for oneshots.

PS: IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED THIS STORY IS RATED MA DUE TO SEXUAL CONTENT AND VULGAR/OFENSIVE LANGUAGE(AT TIMES).

Yours truly,  
Hannah


	2. Season 1:

This part of the "story" will start somewhere in season 1, not too long after Max is introduced.

The song for this part is First Time by Lifehouse

 ** _"_** ** _Looking at you, holding my breath_**

 ** _For once in my life, I'm scared to death"_**

Enjoy!


	3. First Encounter

First encounter

"What do you mean you don't trust me to drive Grace anywhere?" Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett asked his partner Detective Danny Williams as they walked into the medical examiner's office. "Exactly what I said, Steven. I don't trust you to drive my daughter, my flesh and blood, the most precious little girl in the world anywhere. No matter what!" Danny loudly answered while waving his hands all around him. Steve just scoffed and rolled his eyes at his very dramatic, very unreasonable partner. He was a perfectly good driver and he was sure Max would agree with him. "I know for a fact that you are the only one who thinks that, and I am gonna ask Max to prove it," he said to his partner as they walked into Max Bergman's office. He was about to get a snarky remark in return, but when they saw the person sitting in Max's usual chair they both stopped in their tracks.

In the exact same spot, they would normally find Max, sat one of the most beautiful people either of them had ever seen in the past. She had shoulder length auburn hair, olive skin, green eyes and a perfectly placed beauty mark over her left eyebrow. Even in scrubs they could both see she was going to be trouble if they ever met outside of the morgue. Not sure of what to say, Steve said the only thing that came to mind, "you're not Max."

Not aware someone else was in the room, Grace looked up from the death certificate she was filling out to see two men with badges looking at her. They were both handsome, she thought to herself, but the one on the right with the dark hair and smouldering eyes stood out the most. She assumed, after getting the full history of the Five-0 task force from Max, that the two men standing in front of her were Danny and Steve.

"I'm not, flattering that you noticed," Grace answered causing Danny to smile. Knowing what they were here for she grabbed the file on the victim that was brought in a few hours earlier and stood up, walking over to them. "I'm Dr. Grace Ó Máille. You must be Commander McGarrett and Detective Williams, it's nice to meet you." she said, holding her hand out for them to shake. "Dr. Bergman is speaking at a seminar on the mainland, so I'm handling his cases," she continued not giving either of the men a chance to say anything, while starting to move into the room next door where the body of the most recent victim was laying under a white sheet.

Steve and Danny was so taken aback by the breathtakingly beautiful woman, who they know knew was named Grace, that they barely noticed her accent and that she was no longer standing in front of them, but was looking over the file she had picked up from the desk a minute earlier in the other room. When they finally realised she was waiting for them so she could walk them through the autopsy, they quickly followed after her, neither of them commenting on the fact that she somehow knew who they were and why they had never noticed her before.

"Maria Holden," Grace started and gently pulled the sheet of the victim's face, gently placing it under her chin. "26 years old, works as a paralegal at Carlsmith Ball LLP, lives alone with a German Shepherd puppy and a goldfish, no criminal record, no underlying or genetic health issues, no visible cause of death and nothing in her blood work that indicated she was poisoned."

The two men didn't say anything, expecting her to continue and reveal the cause of death, but she didn't. Instead she started typing on one of the many computers, looking at bunch of different x-ray photos. They looked at each other for a few second before Steve finally opened his mouth and asked what the both of them wanted to know. "So what killed her?" he asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice. Still with her back to the boys, she smiled slightly, a little surprised it took them an entire minute to ask the question she knew they were dying to know. She turned back around to look at them, understanding what Max meant when he said they weren't the most patient or subtle people. Specially not Steve.

"A broken heart." Was the only thing she said, wanting to see how they'd react while knowing she's not giving them all the information all at once, like her colleague Max would. "I'm sorry what?" this time it was Detective Williams, Danny, who spoke. Steve just looking at her like she'd lost her mind. "Maria Holden died of a broken heart," she said again causing them to look even more confused. "Ok look, I know I'm not a doctor, but I am pretty sure you can't actually die of a broken heart." Danny said more questioning than sure.

"That is probably because when you think of a broken heart, you picture a cartoon drawing with a jagged line through it. While in reality broken heart syndrome, also called stress-induced cardiomyopathy is a real medical condition. It is experienced as sudden, intense chest pain — the reaction to a surge of stress hormones — that can be caused by an emotionally stressful event. It could be anything from the death of a loved one to betrayal, romantic rejection and even physical separation. It could even happen after a good shock, like winning the lottery. It is very often misdiagnosed as a heart attack because the symptoms and test results are similar. But unlike when you actually have a heart attack, there's no evidence of blocked heart arteries in broken heart syndrome. When you do suffer from stress-induced cardiomyopathy a part of your heart temporarily enlarges and doesn't pump well, while the rest of your heart functions normally or with even more forceful contractions. Luckily broken heart syndrome is usually treatable. Most people who experience it make a full recovery within weeks, and they're at low risk for it happening again. But in more serious cases it can lead to severe, short-term heart muscle failure and in the worst cases, like this one, it can be fatal."

Neither Steve or Danny thought Grace was serious when she said the victim died of a broken heart, but now they both realised they'd made a mistake underestimating her because of how she presented the case compared to how Max does it and more importantly because of the way she looks. "So cause of death is natural causes?" Steve asked, a hint of disappointment sneaking up on him since that would mean he wouldn't get to see her anymore throughout the day. "I'm not so sure," she answered, pulling the sheet back over Maria's face and gently pulling out one of her hands from under the sheet. "She has ligature marks and bruising on her wrists and ankles, consistent with being restrained over a longer period of time, along with defensive marks on her arms and legs and she's also dehydrated and malnourished. If I were to guess, she's not had any proper food or liquids for anything between 1-3 weeks." Shocked by the new information, Steve realised that this case might not be as easy as he had initially thought. Danny thought the same thing, noticing anger slowly creeping up on him.

"So cause of death is natural causes under suspicious circumstances?" Steve rephrased his earlier question, now a hundred percent sure that this girl didn't die because of a bad breakup. As Grace was about to answer Tommy, her Forensic Pathology Fellow who came with her when she accepted the job, walked in with a piece of paper in his hands. "I got the test results you asked for," he said and handing her the piece of paper. She quickly read it and furrowed her brows at the information. She knew when she got into this line of work that she would get to see some of the worst humanity had to offer, but it still didn't make her feel any less angry and sad anytime something terrible happened to good people. "She was murdered. Whoever held her captive may not have physically caused her death, but they definitely killed her. According to these test results her body was flooded with adrenaline, which means she was absolutely terrified when she died." She said, feeling like she had to punch something or someone.

"I'll call Chin and tell him we're definitely dealing with a homicide and that we need to start looking for people who might've held her captive," Danny said and walked out of the room, not only to make a phone call but to cool down. The only thing he could think of is how scared Maria must've been and that he wants to physically harm whoever did this to her. Knowing that she had other cases to attend to, in addition to have to prepare for court, Grace politely excused herself and walked out of the room and headed for the elevators. The only place she could get some peace of mind in the midst of all the chaos was the roof, so that was where she was going.

Now all alone in the room with Tommy, whom Steve had met once or twice before while working with Max, Steve decided to take this opportunity to ask about Grace and where the hell she came from. "So, Tommy. Dr. Ó Máille, what's her story? She been working here long?" he tried saying as casually as possible. Tommy couldn't help but be amused and crack a smile, he had known that eventually Grace and Steve would meet and that something like this would happen. Steve may have a girlfriend, but so far Tommy hadn't met a single man who didn't notice Grace's good looks and asked about her marital status, even the ones in relationships.

"She's been working here for three months, same as me. I came here with her when she got the position as Deputy Chief Medical Examiner. She is one of the best forensic pathologists in the world in addition to being a forensic anthropologist, with a masters' degree in both epidemiology and immunology. By the time she was twenty she had already been a doctor for 2 years and was well on her way with her PhD in forensic anthropology. She's worked with doctors without borders, as trauma leader at the ISAF field hospital in Kandahar and for five years before coming here she was the head of the Prescott Centre in London. Basically she's who everyone goes to when they want a second opinion, can't figure out a problem or simply just want help from the best in the business. Even Max looks up to her." Tommy said, smirking at Steve's obvious surprise and what seemed like admiration.

Without another word, Steve only gave a small nod to signal he'd heard what Tommy had said, both men walked out of the room. Tommy back to the lab and Steve out to the car and Danny.

 **A/N: I own nothing except my characters Grace Ó Máille, Tommy Hodgson and the Prescott Centre(it does not actually exist).**

 **All information about broken heart syndrome was found online, I am in no way a doctor so if any of the information is wrong I apologise.**

 **Please leave a review and fav/follow, and if you have any questions PM me!:)**

 **XOXO**

 **Hannah**


	4. Innocent observations

Innocent observations

Since their first encounter Grace had occupied Steve's thoughts a lot more than he'd like to admit. They had crossed paths a few more times over the past few weeks, she'd assisted Max on some of his cases, they'd pass each other in the hallway when he was there to see Max and he'd also seen her a few times at Wailana Coffee House. He never walked over and spoke to her, he wasn't really sure why, it just never felt like the right thing to do.

Danny had mentioned her more than once; he would not very discretely put it out there that she was a very attractive woman and ask Steve if he agreed or not. Not matter how many times Danny asked, Steve always had the same answer. "Dr. Ó Máille is an attractive woman, yes. But then again there are a lot of attractive women in the world, Danny." It wasn't just because he was tired of Danny bringing it up, but also because he had a girlfriend. He and Catherine had never had an actual conversation about their relationship, Steve had never been that type of guy, but they were both consenting adults who knew what they were a part of so he never saw the need for it.

So far his day had been rather uneventful. They caught a case that seemed like it was gonna be really complicated, but it turned out to be a simple case of grave digging gone wrong. So now he was sitting at a table at Waiola Shave Ice, waiting for Danny would come back with their shave ice.

"Here you go, cantaloupe flavoured shave ice. God knows why…" Danny said and placed it in front of Steve. "Don't knock it till you try it," Steve replied while taking a bite. His very opinionated partner had always made sure he knew that cantaloupe should not be a flavour of shave ice and certainly not the name of a melon. "So got any exciting plans this weekend?" Steve asked, knowing the answer would probably be no, since it was Rachel's weekend. "I promised Rachel I would come and see one of Grace's tennis matches, because god forbid she'd play an actual sport." Danny snorted, clearly very unsatisfied with his ex-wife. Steve had gotten used to Danny mentioning the many wrongs Rachel and Stan were doing while raising his daughter. Apparently it was not good for a girl her age to think tennis was a sport, or that just because you have show and tell at school you should get a bunny. "At least it's not water polo," Steve joked, trying to lighten the mood. Without any luck.

"You think you're funny, huh? Just wait til you have a daughter and her mother insists on her playing tennis, then you can joke about water polo and see how not so funny it is!" To avoid riling up Danny anymore, Steve didn't say anything and focused on his shave ice. He'd never really thought about having kids in the past, it had always felt like the wrong thing to do considering the type of job he had. But now, that he had more reasonable hours and a little more job security, it didn't seem like the most terrible idea. In all honestly it was something that he thought about from time to time, and seeing how much Danny loves Grace and how happy she makes him didn't really make it any less appealing. The only thing always putting a lid on his thought was Catherine. Sure they'd been together for a while, but they had never had a single conversation about the seriousness of their relationship and certainly not the future. He did remember that she once said that even if she loves kids, she wasn't sure it was something for her.

"Isn't that Dr. Ó Máille?" Danny said looking over Steve's shoulder to the counter. Lost in his own thoughts, Steve didn't notice he said anything, resulting in Danny snapping his fingers in front of his face. "What?" he asked, confused as to why Danny would do that. "I said: isn't that Dr. Ó Máille?" he repeated and nodded towards the counter where she was paying Kamekona. She was wearing black skinny jeans, a burgundy v-neck blouse, nude mary janes with a pair of sunglasses placed on her head. This wasn't the first time Steve had seen her out of scrubs, but it was the first time he saw her in something so casual. She would normally wear flashy colours like orange, turquoise and pencil skirts or dresses. He liked it, it suited her.

Without any warning and the opportunity to object, Danny called out to her and waved her over. She gave a small smile when she saw them and walked over. "Detective Williams, Commander McGarrett, pleasure as always." She said as she reached them and gave each of them a warm smile. Her eyes meeting Steve's as he greeted her in return. She wasn't sure what is was about them, but his eyes gave a sense of comfort. Like she could trust him, even if she didn't really know him.

"What brings you here today?" Danny asked, motioning for her to sit down and join them. As she sat down her arm gently brushed against Steve's, giving her goose bumps. She ignored it and moved a little further away from him to avoid it happening again, without making it obvious. "Cantaloupe shave ice. It's the only place on the island that sells the flavour," she said as she took a bite. Danny raised his eyebrows at her statement, and Steve couldn't help but chuckle at his partner's expression. "Cantaloupe. Well I guess I was wrong Steven, you're not the only person on the planet who likes cantaloupe." Not completely sure what they were talking about, she just gave Danny a smile and took another bite.

"So I've got a question for you. My daughter, Grace, has been wondering what her name means and where it comes from, which I have no clue about. I mean I know why I named her Grace, but she wants to know the origin if it, so I'm a little desperate." Danny said looking at Grace with hopeful eyes.

"It comes from the Latin word gratia," she started, making Danny smile. "Which translated into English is Grace. It was created in the 17th century by the Puritans." Visibly grateful that he finally had an answer to give his daughter, Danny leaned over the table and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thank you!" She just smiled in response and continued on her shave ice.

As she was about to ask them how their case was going, Danny's phone started ringing. He pulled it out of his pocket and smiled when he saw who the caller was. "Hey monkey, I was just talking about you." Not wanting to eavesdrop, Grace occupied herself with her shave ice and the plastic spoon. She could feel Steve shift beside her, causing the little space between them to become even smaller. The heat radiating from him seeped through her thin blouse, causing the hairs at the back of her neck to rise and a slight shiver run through her. Ever since the day they'd met, she'd always had a feeling about him. She wasn't sure what it was, and she wasn't planning on finding out. She was fully aware of the fact that he had a girlfriend, and even if he didn't she wasn't looking for a relationship of any kind. Especially not with someone she sensed would have the power to break through all her walls.

Steve could have sworn that he felt Grace shiver when he shifted in his seat. He wasn't really sure what to think of it, for all he knew she was just cold from the shave ice. When she sat down in the first place she'd moved a few inches away from him, not so much it would be noticed unless you were paying close to attention to her every move. Which he had been doing, for some reason.

"Ok, I'll be right there," Danny said into the phone before hanging up. Steve gave him a questioning look, wondering where he was going and why. "I'm sorry, but I have to go. Grace isn't feeling well so I have to pick her up from school." He said as he got up. "Steve, can you manage to get back to the office on your own?" Steve just waved him of and told him to go get Grace from school.

As soon as Danny left the air seemed to thicken and it got really quiet. Not sure what to do or say to make it less uncomfortable, Steve moved a little to get a better view of Grace. It was the first time he'd really taken a close look at her up close. In addition to the beauty mark over her eyebrow, she had a small and very faint crescent moon shaped scar on her right cheek, a slight dimple on her left cheek and her eyes. Her eyes looked sad and tired but yet happy and electric. They were the most beautiful green eyes he'd ever seen in his life. Realising he was close to staring at her, he cleared his throat and gave her a small smile.

"Any exciting cases lately?" he asked, casually, wanting to ease the tension. "A guy washed up on the north shore last week. He had scars all over his body and even objects like flash drives and razor blades embedded under his skin." She said, causing Steve to raise an eyebrow in disbelief. "You're kidding right?" She couldn't help but laugh at his response and reaction. "I'm serious. The guy suffered from congenital analgesia or as it's more commonly known as congenital insensitivity to pain. It's a condition in which a person cannot feel and has never felt physical pain. He didn't even feel it when he was stabbed in the neck with a grappling hook." Shocked and slightly disturbed the picture that popped into his head, Steve couldn't help but to let out a small laugh.

As Steve laughed Grace felt something flutter in her stomach, but she ignored it and gave a smile in return. Remembering that Danny was Steve's ride and that he'd left to get his daughter she decided to offer him a ride. She ate what remained of her shave ice and got up. "You need a ride?" she asked softly, hoping he'd say yes. "That'd be great," he said, getting up and following her to her car. Expecting her to drive some sort of sedan, he was taken aback when he saw the car her keys unlocked. In front of him was a clearly customised, dark blue Ford Shelby Cobra. He'd never seen a car like that, let alone been this close to one. The only thing he could think of was how much it must have cost. As she got into the driver's seat, she asked if he was getting in or not. He quickly walked to the passenger side and got in.

The drive over to the palace was quiet. Not uncomfortably or awkward, just quiet. He'd wanted to ask her about the car a couple times, but stopped himself. He didn't want to seem like an ass for asking where she got the car, how much it cost and that she didn't seem like a muscle car type of girl. When she stopped the car right outside the entrance, Steve gave her a quick smile and wave before saying thanks for the ride and getting out.

"Hey, Commander!" she called after him through the open window. He turned around rather quickly, thinking he'd dropped something in the car. "Next time you see me at Wailana," she said, making Steve blush slightly. He'd never realised or thought that she'd seen him when they'd been at the coffee house at the same time. "Join me. Coffee tastes better when it's shared with someone else," she finished with a teasing smile before taking of.

 **A/N: I know the words shave ice have been mentioned like 10 times, don't judge.**

 **Again I don't own anything except my character Grace Ó Máille, Tommy Hodgson and the Prescott Centre.**

 **I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I might even post another one this week if things don't get to hectic.**

 **XOXO**  
 **Hannah**


	5. Sparks

Sparks

"Hello, Duke. You got a body for me?" Grace asked as she got of the elevator at the 23rd floor. Max had gotten a call about a dead body at an office building in downtown Honolulu, but didn't have the opportunity to handle it due to two other cases and a trial, so he'd asked her to take the case. "This way," Duke said and walked through the glass doors leading to the offices that occupied the floor. "Victim is the CEO, Dale Peterson, his assistant found him when she got here this morning." He explained as he leads her through a maze of cubicles. As they approached the corner office, which she guessed belonged to the victim, she saw a familiar figure looking around the room.

Steve was looking around the office of Dale Peterson, seeing if anything seemed out of place, when he heard the glass doors open. "Here you go," he could hear Duke say before the doors closed again. As the person entered the room, he immediately knew who it was. Normally it'd be Max, but this time it was Grace. She smelled like a mix of vanilla and lavender, a smell he'd grown quite fond of during the two months they'd known each other. He could also sense her presence whenever she was in the room with him, he didn't really know how to explain it, he just felt her. It was like a magnetic field surrounded her or something.

"Morning, Commander." Grace said as he turned around to look at her and gave him a warm smile. "Steve," he replied with and equally warm smile. Grace couldn't help but feel a little giddy due to the fact that they were now apparently on a first name basis. "Only if you call me Grace." He nodded at her request before turning his attention back to the victim. "Dale Peterson, CEO and tech mogul. His assistant Lisa found him when she arrived this morning. She said she left before him last night and that he's wearing the same clothes as yesterday, so we know he didn't go anywhere else before he was killed." Grace took in all of the information while putting her bag down and kneeling next to the victim.

"Well from what I can tell cause of death is a gunshot to the heart, looks like a 9mm," she started before putting her hands under him and turning him away from her to look for an exit wound. There wasn't one, meaning the bullet was still in his chest. She gently put him back to the way he way laying before and grabbed some forceps from her bag. "There is no exit wound, which means that the bullet," she carefully used the forceps to try and get the bullet out. "Is still in his chest," she said as she pulled out a slightly deformed 9mm bullet." She took a look at the bullet through a magnifying glass to see if there were any fibers or residue on it. When she could find any, she put it in a small evidence bag and put it in her bag.

"The only other thing can I say so far is that the gun was presses into his chest when it was fired. There is gunpowder on his shirt and an abrasion ring is forming on his chest. I'll know more when I get him back to the morgue." She said and started folding out the body bag and rolling him onto it. Realising that she'd need help putting the body onto the stretcher, Steve got down to help her. They quickly got the body zipped up and onto the stretcher. Grace packed up her bag, double checking that she put the evidence bag with the bullet in there, and got up to start rolling the victim to the elevator.

Walking next to each other towards the elevator, Grace took the time to look over at Steve for a quick second. He looked tired, but focused. It was one of the things she admired most about him, no matter how tired he got or how hard things were he would always keep going. She thought back to one of the few times they'd shared a table at Wailana's, she knew he'd been exhausted after working for 16 hours straight without a break and even though the case was a tough one, he'd pretended like it was nothing and talked about Danny and how he was driving him crazy with his complaining about how Stan was spoiling Grace her too much. Knowing he'd never take a break before finishing something, made Grace feel like she had to tell him to slow down and take a breath. Maybe it just was her natural sense of overprotectiveness talking, but she knew she couldn't do it. It wasn't her job.

As they reached the elevator, most of the officers that had been guarding the floor was gone. There was one left to watch the crime scene until CSU and eventually the cleaners showed up. Steve pushed the button and the doors opened. He let Grace roll in the stretcher before he entered himself and pushed the button for the ground floor. "So no Danny today?" Grace asked, breaking the silence. "He's testifying in court today." Giving a smile and nod in return, Grace wished she knew what to do to make the elevator ride any less awkward, but the only thing she wanted to do was ask how we was doing and she knew she couldn't do that. It wasn't her place, they weren't friends, they were acquaintances who sometimes worked together.

Steve couldn't help but feel like he had to say something. He wasn't sure what, he just wanted to talk to her, about anything. The only sound was the steady beeping as the elevator descended floor by floor and Grace's almost silent breathing. All of a sudden a loud jarring sound came from above them as the entire elevator started shaking before making a big jolt and stopping completely. Trying to get the elevator to start again Steve pushed the button for the ground floor a couple times before pressing the alarm button, realising they were stuck. "Great," Grace muttered under her breath, making sure Steve couldn't hear her.

As the minutes went by the tension in the small space became more and more apparent, and it didn't take long before both Grace and Steve became desperate to get out. She rolled the stretcher all the way into to the back wall and slid down onto the floor, wanting to create as much distance between her and Steve as possible. Not wanting to sit down next to the dead body and not wanting to stand for much longer as the temperature in the elevator kept rising, his only option was to sit down next to grace. As he did, she could feel her own temperature rising due to the close proximity, and small droplets of sweat started appearing at the back of her neck. Not wanting to become a sweaty mess in front of Steve, she decided to take her blouse of, leaving her in only a tight fitting tank top.

The second she took her blouse of Steve stiffened and he felt the hair at the back of his neck rise. He took a quick look at her in his peripheral and gave her a once over. Her once knee long pencil skirt had risen to her mid-thigh and he could barely see a small line of lace from the top of her stockings. Her semi sheer, white tank top clung to her like a second skin and he could see the imprint of the lace on her bra. Her chest rose in a steady pace, making it hard for him to keep his eyes of her chest area. He had never been one to stare, but then again he wasn't used to being stuck in an elevator with the most beautiful women he'd ever met, whom he had an indescribable strong attraction to, even though he barely knew her.

Desperate to keep her attention away from the man next to her and the feelings she felt by him being so close to her, she decided to ask him something she'd been wondering about since the first time she heard it. "Where does the name Five-0 come from?" Surprised, but yet happy she broke the silence, Steve turned his head to meet her eyes. "It's what my dad used to call us. Since we weren't natives he wanted us to feel like we belonged somewhere or to something so he called us 5-0. It was the number I used on my jersey when I played football." He answered with a small smile, thinking back to when his parents were both alive and life was a lot easier.

"I heard about what happened to your dad from Max, I'm really sorry." Grace said without thinking much about it first. As she realised what she'd just said, she got nervous, wondering how he'd react. He smiled at her sentiment, and it even reached his eyes which was rare for him and took a deep breath. "Thank you," he'd never realised how little he had talked about his father and his death until now. And surprisingly enough he didn't feel uncomfortable about it. "What about you, what are your parents like?" He asked, steering the attention onto her.

Aware that this moment would come eventually, Grace didn't feel the usual level of gloominess when he asked her about her parents. She quickly glanced down at the floor before looking back up at Steve. "My mom died right after my 4th birthday, cancer, and my dad died when I was 10." Suddenly feeling like punching himself for bringing it up, Steve felt that feeling he'd had in the pit of his stomach since the day he'd met her grow. His expression softening noticeably, he gently put his hand over hers, ignoring the spark running up his arm as he did and gave her a look that told her everything she needed to know.

"So… uh… you know any good hiking trails? My regular run along the beach is getting a little boring and I could use some variety." It was partially true, she was getting bored with her regular route, but she also knew about several hiking trails and didn't really need any help finding them. Not really surprised she was a runner, considering her toned and athletic physique, Steve immediately thought of one specific trail.

"The Kolowalu Trail is my favourite. It's not the easiest trail, it's rocky and steep, but when you get to the top. There's no other feeling that compares. I was planning on going this weekend, if you want to join." He hadn't thought about what inviting her along would sound like or look like, but now that it was out there he couldn't take it back.

"I would love to," Grace said, accepting his invitation. He didn't have to know that she'd already planned on hiking that trail this weekend anyways. The thought of the two of them alone in the middle of nowhere, miles away from civilisation made her feel both nervous and giddy. "Great." Neither of them sure of what to say or what to do next, kept looking at each other. It wasn't in an uncomfortable way, it felt natural. Feeling like she could stare into his eyes forever, Grace noticed his hand was still on hers sending sparks through her entire body.

The tension in the small space kept rising to a point where you could cut through it with a knife, and they both just sat there looking at each other. Suddenly a sharp sound came from the doors, causing them to snap their heads in that direction. After a few seconds they heard the same sound again and the doors moved a little. Realising they were about to be rescued, they both jumped to their feet and Grace quickly pulled her blouse over her head again.. Feeling like something was missing, she looked down at her hand and saw that Steve's was not there anymore.

After a few more loud bangs and some rattling of the doors, they were finally pried open by the fire department. "Everyone okay," one of them asked Grace and Steve and they both nodded in return. Coming to realise that if she didn't get the body to the morgue as soon as possible it would start to smell and evidence would become corrupted, Grace picked up her bag from the floor and started rolling the stretcher out of the elevator. Some of the firemen held the doors of the building open for her and helped get it into the van. She quickly said thank you and headed to the front. Before she got in she caught a glimpse of Steve talking to some firemen and the police officer that was placed at the 23rd floor earlier and their eyes met for a second. As she closed the car door and turned on the engine she finally let out a breath she hadn't realised she was holding in.

 **A/N: I was planning on posting this yesterday(sunday), but things got a little hectic and I had to babysit my cousin so I didn't get to finish it.**

 **Please leave a review if there is anything specific you want me to write about and of course if you liked it. Favs and follows is also greatly appreciated, it gives me more motivation to write and helps through writer's block(even though I don't have it yet)**

 **Hope you enjoyed!**

 **XOXO  
Hannah**


	6. Gentle breeze

Gentle breeze

"When you said we were going for drinks; did you mean just drinks or are going to talk to each other too?" Tommy lightly joked, taking a sip of his beer. As he was leaving the office at the end of his workday, Grace had asked him to go have drinks with her. So now they were sitting in the bar at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, Grace sipping a double whiskey and Tommy a longboard. The only thing she'd said since they got there 20 minutes earlier was her order to the bartender. She knew Tommy wasn't going to leave her alone until the reason behind their very silent bar visit, and she knew it. They had known each other for too long to lie to each other. He knew every gory little detail about her life, past and present and vice versa. z

"If you don't want to tell me that's fine. I'm pretty sure I know what's got you all clammed up and moody." He said, aware that she'd probably get a little pissed at him statement. "Oh yeah, and what would that be?" she snapped back. She knew Tommy didn't mean anything by it, but she wasn't in the mood for jokes and he knew it. "Steve. He's got you all hot, bothered and twisted up inside. There's no need to deny it, I know you better than anyone else."

He was right. He hated to admit it, but he was. About all of it. Ever since the incident with the elevator and their hike that following weekend, the only thing she could think of was Steve. And it was killing her. She'd done it before, broken her rules. And all it got her was a townhouse to herself and a whole lot of heartache.

"You know I have these rules, the two golden rules in life: never go out with a soldier and never go out with a guy that is already taken. I've done the mistake of breaking them in the past which should make this extremely easy, but it's not. I don't know what it is about him, but I just can't seem to get him out of my head and it's killing me. I don't want to feel like this and I don't want to feel for him." She said and looked over at Tommy with an expression she didn't wear often. Fear.

Knowing how much pain she was in after her last failed relationship, all Tommy wanted to do was hug her. But he knew she wasn't much of a hugger, so instead he put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and giving her a calming smile. "I know this isn't what you want to hear right know, but not everyone you let in is going to let you down or leave. What happened two years ago was awful and I wish I could have stopped it from happening, but not everyone is Elvis. And yes I know him and I are still mates, but that doesn't mean I won't hesitate to punch him if it'll make you feel better. Now take a deep breath, down your drink and smile, because Steve is walking over her as we speak." Thinking Tommy was joking, she turned around and saw that he was right. Steve was on his way over. Wanting to panic, but knowing she couldn't, she did as Tommy said.

As she turned around to ask the bartender for another drink she saw Tommy almost running out of the bar, leaving her alone. _Shit!_ She thought to herself before putting on a smile as Steve finally came up to her "Did I interrupt something?" he asked looking in the direction Tommy took off to. "No. He has other plans," she lied. Smiling at her, he sat down on the seat previously occupied by Tommy and ordered a beer.

After some meaningless conversation about how the day had been and if anything interesting had happened, Grace asked what she had been wanting to know since Steve sat down. "So I'm wondering and it's not that a guy can't go to a bar alone, but you're normally here with the rest of your team."

Steve laughed at her statement and took a sip of his beer. Even though he hadn't minded going out for a beer, Danny's intentions still made him a little uncomfortable. Not that he was one to get uncomfortable around women, except Grace, but he didn't really have a need to go on prowl just yet.

"Danny decided to bring me here and to be my wingman. I didn't really follow his plan or let him be much of wingman, so he left after a little while." He said feeling a little idiotic that he even came with Danny in the first place. He was also planning on giving him a speech on him just leaving without saying a word.

Not really sure why Steve would need a wingman, he was smart, kind, funny and extremely handsome, something every warm-blooded woman within a mile radius was sure to notice. He also had a girlfriend, who was very beautiful and nice. Grace had met her once, she was helping Five-0 with a case by using her military resources. "Not that I'm an expert, but doesn't needing a wingman usually apply to people who don't already have a girlfriend?" Grace knew she was probably putting her nose where it didn't belong, but she had learned a long time ago that she wasn't very good at filtering her thoughts around Steve.

Not really sure how to tell Grace that he and Catherine broke up two weeks ago due to the fact that they rarely saw each other, had never had or felt the need to talk about the seriousness of their relationship and because Steve had become quite distant in the past months. He hadn't told her it was because the only female that had been occupying his mind for the past months was Grace, he didn't feel it was necessary since him and Grace wasn't anything close to involved. In any way. Danny had given him a lecture about the fact that if Grace occupied his mind it wasn't because he only liked her as a friend and purely platonic reasons, but Steve had just brushed it off. Just because he thought Grace was extremely over average attractive in addition to being a warm, kind hearted and brilliant in and out of the office didn't mean he wanted a relationship with her.

"Catherine and I broke up a couple weeks ago. We rarely saw each other, so we decided it was for the best." He left out the part about it being mainly Catherine's idea, saying that she cared for him deeply but he was emotionally unavailable and in another headspace.

Even though she was sorry about him and Catherine breaking up she felt something that could only be described as butterflies in her stomach, but she ignored it. Not sure what to in a situation like this, she decided against saying something in case it would come out wrong or she would say something unfiltered and ordered another whiskey for herself and a beer for Steve. As they both grabbed for their drinks at the same time, their hands brushed against each other and they both felt warmth and sparks run up their arms and trough their bodies. Steve felt like the temperature was rising and had to take of the grey shirt he had over his t-shirt, and Grace felt like every nerve in her body was on high alert as her heart started pounding and she felt both hot and bothered.

Either of them had ever in their lives had this strong of a physical attraction to another person and felt the need to be close to that person at all times to not go completely insane. Uncertain about what she would say or do if she had anything more to drink when sitting so close to him that she could feel heat radiating of him, she did the only thing that came to mind. She stood up.

Before Grace got out of her seat Steve hadn't noticed what she was wearing. It wasn't what she'd been wearing earlier that day at the morgue, at least not completely. She was still wearing the same black pumps and nude tank top that clung to her skin, but the blouse that she'd worn over it was gone and the jeans she'd been wearing was replaced with a high-waisted, black skirt that stopped mid-thigh and showed of her perfectly placed curves. He managed not to stare for too long before looking up to meet her eyes. "Want to take a walk along the beach? It's getting a little crowded in here." She said. Without really giving him a chance to answer, she handed the bartender some cash and started walking down to the beach.

Steve quickly paid for his own drinks and followed after her. He caught up with her rather fast, since she'd stopped at the end of the patio to take her shoes of before stepping onto the sand.

They started walking in silence in direction of the parking lot, their arms brushing against each other every once in a while driving them both insane. "So Danny says you're a good surfer," she burst out in an attempt to take her mind of her urge to touch him. Glad that she said something to take his mind of the very apparent tension lingering between them, he looked down at her before answering. "I'm decent, not as good as Kono though." He answered while looking at her in admiration at how beautiful she looked in the moonlight.

"I don't think I've met anyone as good as Kono, she made me look like a complete amateur." Grace laughed remembering the times she had made the mistake of going surfing a former champion. Taken aback and amazed about the fact she surfed, the image of her in a bikini and wet suit entered his mind and his once steady heartbeat sped up quickly. "Maybe we can go together some time," Grace suggested and immediately regretting it as she realized that would mean seeing Steve shirtless, something she really didn't think she was ready for.

"Sure," Steve answered as the image of Grace in a bikini kept flashing in front of his eyes.

As they kept walking Grace felt herself being drawn toward Steve and she couldn't find the willpower or strength to fight it, so she gave in and very slowly closed the distance between them for each step they took. She didn't stop until their arms were constantly touching. She also felt the need to lace her fingers with him, but managed to stop herself.

The feeling of her skin against his again was pleasant and uncomfortable at the same time. He enjoyed being in close proximity to her, but he wasn't comfortable about the fact that he didn't feel like he had full control over his actions like he usually did. They sound of the ocean was calming and probably the only thing keeping him from doing something really stupid and inappropriate.

Realising that they would soon reach the parking lot and get in their cars and drive in opposite directions, Grace felt her heart drop a little and she stopped paying attention to where she was stepping causing her to step into a big hole that had been dug in the sand resulting in her losing her balance. She was about to hit the sand as Steve's muscular arm grabbed her around the waist and pulled her close to him before she fell. Feeling like a complete idiot for almost tripping over she hadn't realised that she was now in extreme proximity to Steve. His hand was around her waist holding her in place and their chests where pressed against each other, both of them breathing heavily by both the shock of her clumsiness and the realisation that their faces where inches away from each other.

Unable to fight her urge, Grace slowly looked up at Steve, her green eyes staring into his blue ones and a jolt of electricity ran through her body. She felt a weird tingling in her toes and fingertips as she realised she had never felt the need to kiss someone this much in her entire life. As she was about to go against her better judgement and all common sense a gentle breeze brushed past them causing goosebumps to form on her arms and the heat to die down long enough for her to snap out of her trance and take a step back from him.

Disappointed that she was no longer pressed up against him, Steve didn't say anything and continued walking toward the parking lot that was now a few feet away. Even though the breeze had cooled him down a little he still felt like he needed a cold shower before going to bed.

Finally, at their destination, Grace brushed sand of her feet and put her shoes back on. Noticing that their cars were parked right next to each other, they walked over to them and stopped at their respective cars. "Thank you for the drink and the conversation," Grace said. Trying her best to seem completely unaffected, but failing. "Yeah, you… uh… have a good night." Steve answered not really sure what to say without giving away the fact that if he was someone with just a fraction of the self-control he had, he wouldn't have been just let her leave.

They both turned around and walked toward their own cars, but Grace stopped before getting to the driver's seat door. She quickly turned around and unable to stop herself said Steve's name. He stopped the second he heard her voice and turned around a lot faster than he would have liked to. "Yeah?" he asked, thinking she was going to ask him something. Instead she started walking toward him at a fast pace and before he could blink she was standing right in front of him. Without any control over her actions Grace grabbed Steve by his t-shirt and pulled him to her. The second their lips touched it felt like fireworks went off and every sense of self-control went out the window for both of them.

Shocked by what just happened, it took Steve a second to respond to Grace's actions, but when her arms snaked around his waist to rest on his lower back he brought one of his hands to the back of her neck and the other to her cheek.

Completely in sync, the kiss was anything but innocent. Steve tugged slightly at her hair, making her bend her neck a little more, deepening the kiss. He traced his tongue along her lower lip and she opened her mouth to let him in. They fought over control for a few seconds until Grace finally let Steve win.

She linked her hands around his neck, trying to get as close to Ahim as possible and Steve hugged her by the waist wanting the exact same thing. Completely consumed by the passion, they didn't even think about the fact that they were in a parking lot where anyone would see them.

For every second that went by, their kiss became more and more desperate and without any control Grace let out an almost silent moan. Steve heard it and the need to be closer to her grew. As their tongues continued their dance he tugged at her tank top until the hem appeared from under her skirt. He slowly traced his hands under her top, dragging his slightly calloused hands over her silky smooth skin. The friction caused a shudder to run down her spine and she bunched her hands in the hair at the back of his neck in response.

Completely unable to stop, Grace pushed Steve up against the hood of his car. Her hands roamed his chest and his dropped down to her ass. As Grace was about to suggest they take this somewhere more private a car alarm went off causing her to practically jump away from Steve. As she looked at him, his tousled hair and creased shirt she suddenly realised what she'd just done.

It wasn't that she hadn't enjoyed it or that she didn't want to do it again, but she had to work with him and see him almost every day. And now that she knew what kissing him felt like, she would never be able to concentrate while in the same room as him.

Standing in front of him with her tank top bunched crumpled at her waist, her hair completely messed up and some red lipstick smudged, Steve thought she'd never been more attractive. He also realised that the only thing he would think about when in the same room as her was the feeling of her smooth skin and the moans she made.

Gathering up what little she had left of self-control, she took a deep breath and straightened her back. "I'll see you tomorrow," she said with a wicked smile and walked to her car, got in and drove away, leaving Steve longing for more and in need of not just one but two cold showers.

 **A/N: I am so very sorry for the long wait for another oneshot. My computer decided to die earlier this week and I didn't get it back before Saturday afternoon and then we got visitors so I didn't get to write much then. So now(when I am posting this), it is 1:45AM in Norway.**

 **If you see any grammar mistakes please PM me.**

 **I am very grateful for reviews and favs/follows, it keeps me motivated to write.**

 **Hope you enjoyed!**

 **XOXO**  
 **Hannah**


	7. Avoidance

Avoidance

The sound of her phone ringing in the distance woke Grace up from a few hours of much needed sleep causing her to let out a loud groan. She grabbed one of the extra pillows in her bed to cover her face with, and hoped the ringing would stop. It didn't. The continuation of Elton John's Don't go breaking my heart echoed through the room, forcing her to stretch out her arm and blindly drag it across the surface of the nightstand to search for her phone. As her hand touched the cold metal she grabbed it forcefully and steered it towards her face. She very slowly pried one eyelid open to see who was calling; _Sean_.

Without any hesitation and a lot of frustration she declined the call and threw the phone across the room, before burying her head in the pillows again. The soft and warm embrace of the pillows and the faint sound of the ocean caused her to slowly fall back asleep. Thankful for the peace and quiet she smiled slightly, but her small moment of happiness was cut short when the voice of Elton John started again.

Convinced going back to sleep would be impossible, she ripped her duvet of, jumped out of bed and stomped over to where she threw her phone. She picked it up from the floor to see that Sean once again was the one calling. Not in the mood to talk to anyone, she pressed decline and turned the phone completely off.

Suddenly extremely agitated she decided to make the most of her day and head for the bathroom. The sharp light made her eyes sting and she pinched her nose, trying to fight of a headache. She looked into the mirror and the sight of herself almost scared her. Her hair that had once been in a nice bun was now hanging in strands over her shoulders, her eyes was red and glassy and yesterday's mascara was smudged down her cheeks.

"Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ!" she said to herself, mortified by her own reflection. She hadn't looked or felt this tired in ages and it was tearing on her will to even leave the house to get some fresh air. Ever since the incident with Steve two weeks earlier she'd been avoiding him. She'd swapped cases with Max if she was handling one he was working, stopped having coffee at Wailana's, sent Tommy to deliver paperwork on previous cases and purposely stayed away from places she knew he frequented.

In need of a shower, she turned it on, stripped out of clothes and stepped in. As the warm stream hit her sore shoulders she instantly felt herself relax, so she just stood for a few minutes before continuing with washing her hair, face and body.

After finishing her shower, Grace did some damage control on her frizzy hair and under moisturized body. Not caring about what to wear she pulled on a pair of black skinny jeans, a dark blue v-neck t-shirt and a pair of beige sandals. Remembering she'd turned her phone of earlier, she picked it up from the floor and turned it back on. She had 7 missed calls and 4 voicemails from Sean and 3 missed calls and 4 texts from Tommy saying her presence is needed at the office.

She quickly stuffed her belongings in her purse and grabbed a banana on her way out the door.

* * *

"How much longer do we have to wait?" Steve asked Max for the tenth time as he looked at his watch. Ever since the two bodies found in a shallow grave on the north shore was brought in almost an hour ago, Steve and the rest of his team had been waiting at the morgue. Naturally he was the most inpatient one and had been very clear on his wishes to leave, but Max had told them that he didn't have the knowledge or capability to deal with the bodies in the state they were in so they would have to wait for Grace to come in on her day of to even have a chance at getting an id and cause of death.

When Chin and Danny had asked why he was so eager to leave when Grace hadn't even shown up yet he'd told them it was because for every minute spent there was another minute the killer had to get away. Truthfully the reason he wanted to get out of there as fast as possible was because he'd been ignoring Grace ever since his moment of weakness two weeks prior. Seeing as she hadn't been at Wailana's ever since in addition to not work a single case of his it wasn't really difficult to understand she was doing the same thing.

As Max was about to answer him the same thing he had all the other times Steve had asked, the doors were pushed open and Grace walked in. "Sorry I'm late, traffic was shit." She said while throwing her purse in her chair and pulling on her lab coat, intentionally avoiding eye contact with Steve. If it hadn't been for Danny being extra observant of Steve and Grace ever since he'd heard about their hike, no one would have noticed.

Without saying anything else, Grace walked over to the bodies to get a close look at them. "Considering they were buried a few feet underground, based on the level of decomb I'd say they've been there for three weeks, give or take. The mandibles suggest they are both male and the tibias suggests that victim A was between 5'6" and six feet tall, while victim B between 5'2 and 5'4. The teeth suggest victim A is in his early to middle twenties and victim B can't be more than 18-19. Victim A has calcified holes with radial fractures in the left clavicle and scapula which are consistent with ballistic damage." She explained while continuing examining the remains in their current state. "So he was shot to death?" Danny asked, hoping it would be that easy.

"And stabbed, but neither is the cause of death. The wounds healed. They both have a small hole in the back of their cranium, but I'm going to have clean the bones first before I can tell if it's the cause of death or not." She finished and looked up at the group standing in front of her. They all seemed surprised she'd been able to tell all that from a couple half rotten bodies without doing anything else that look at them.

Not wanting to give any of them a chance to ask her why she's not been working any of their cases for so long, Grace quickly excused herself and went looking for Tommy so he could help her clean the bones.

The second Steve and Danny got into the car Steve knew Danny would mention something, anything, about Grace. He thought it would happen the second they drove off, but it took Danny five minutes of excruciating silence before he said anything. "So why are you and the doc avoiding each other?" Knowing no matter how much he changed the topic Danny wouldn't let it go, Steve decided to be completely honest and tell him everything.

"Wait, so let me get this straight. You and Grace had drinks, took a stroll down the beach and then had what sounded like some movie like make out session in the middle of a parking lot and then you haven't said anything to each other since?" Danny asked, to make sure he'd understood everything Steve had just told him. "Pretty much," Steve answered, finally realising how moronic it sounds. It's not like they're in high school, he can't just avoid speaking to her ever again because things are awkward.

"Well I hope you know what you have to do. You have to talk to her, have an adult conversation about what happened and where it leaves you." Hating that his partner was right, Steve just shrugged his shoulders in both response and defeat and looked out the window and pictures how horrifying his future conversation with Grace was going to be like.

* * *

Sitting at her desk wrapping up the last of her paperwork, Grace thought back to the conversation she had with Tommy the day before. Obviously he'd told to woman up and talk to Steve. "We're not bloody teenagers, so stop fucking around and talk to him!" he'd said. And he was right. She knew very well that ignoring her problems wouldn't make them go away and the more she thought about it, she wasn't sure she wanted to go away. Even though she wasn't looking for a relationship, especially not with someone who just got out of one, she couldn't get Steve out of her mind not matter how hard she tried.

Her thoughts got interrupted when someone knocked on the door and when she looked up at who it was, she wished she'd taken the paperwork home with her instead. "Do you have a minute?" Steve asked, clearly uncomfortable. "Sure," she replied and put away what she was working on.

"Good work on the case, it's been a while since we closed so fast." He said, clearly trying to ease the tension, but for every step he took into the room it just grew. "I'm just glad I could help and that their family finally got some closure." Feeling super awkward sitting behind the desk looking up at Steve, she got up from her seat, walked around the desk and leaned on it instead.

After a few seconds of awkward silence and avoiding eye contact, Steve finally brought up the elephant in the room. "So I guess we should talk about…" he said, not sure of what to call what happened between them. Most mindblowing kiss of my life came to mind, but he kept it to himself. "Right… that was eh… I don't know what it was… I kinda just felt like it and before I realised what I was doing it was too late. And the three whiskeys didn't really help-" Grace tried to explain, only making it more awkward and uncomfortable.

"You don't have to explain; it was… I don't know what it was, really. All I know is that I haven't been able to stop thinking about it and that we can't keep avoiding each other to the end of time." He said in one quick breath, realising he didn't make the air any less tension filled by telling her he'd been thinking about kissing her.

Hearing Steve say he hadn't been able to stop thinking about their kiss made Grace blush. "I haven't been able to stop thinking about it either," she almost whispered. Feeling relieved he wasn't the only one replaying their kiss in his mind, Steve also felt something stir inside him. Something he'd never felt before. "So what now?" he asked, not sure where to go from there. "I don't know."

Now standing face to face with only a few feet between them, they took the time to take a good look at each other. Steve wore his standard black cargo pants, combat boots and only a black t-shirt showing of his muscular arms and chest. His hair was styled in the way it normally was and his eyes, his very blue eyes looked at her in a way she couldn't explain, but it made her feel safe. Grace had put in a little more effort that morning and was wearing a navy blue pencil skirt, black blouse with a v-neck, black mary janes and a gold necklace. Her hair was no longer loose, but in a messy bun and her eyes were looking straight into Steve's.

The longer they kept eye contact, the more electrified the air became and soon the only sounds in the room was their heavy breathing and the air conditioning in the other room. Feeling like she was losing control over herself and her actions Grace crossed her arms over her chest, dragging Steve's attention to her chest raising in sync with her breathing and the slightly visible outline of her bra. He'd never been one to pay specific attention to those types of details, but ever since they got stuck in the elevator he noticed every single detail about Grace and her appearance.

The shrilling sound of Elton John broke the silence, and Grace inwardly cursed herself for not putting her phone on silent. She looked over her shoulder to see who was calling and felt like screaming when caller id said Sean. Quickly she declined the incoming call and put it on silent while she was at it. Knowing he'd keep calling if she didn't answer it at some point, she decided to ignore the voice in the back of her mind telling her to keep ignoring him and show Steve exactly how much she liked kissing him.

"I'm glad we talked," she said and Steve got the memo. She was ignoring whoever was calling and didn't want him to ask about it. Not wanting to push her, he decided it was time to go home even if every fibre of being told him otherwise. "Me too, I'll see you around." He said and gave her a smile and wave before leaving her office.

Fighting everything her mind was currently telling her to do, Grace picked up her phone from her desk and redialled Sean's number. He answered the call after just three rings, " _hello?_ " "You better have a damn good reason for blowing my phone up when I told you I didn't want to talk to you last time!"


	8. Quenching desire

So I am a tad bit cliché toward the end... Couldn't help it:)

* * *

Quenching desire

Steve looked at his watch and then the arrival time on the monitor above the entrance to the airport. He wasn't really sure why he was there, no one had asked him to, he just felt like he had to. Like he should. It had been just over a month since him and Grace had their conversation about their kiss in the parking lot and they last saw each other. The day after she was gone. She'd taken some vacation time and gone back to London without an explanation.

For a while he'd thought it was to get away from him, but then he'd remembered the phone call she'd gotten and declined and the way she tensed up when she saw who the caller was. It didn't necessarily mean that was the reason she took off, but it didn't make him feel as crappy as the thought of it being because of him.

Feeling like she'd been crammed into a small box, Grace rolled her neck for the billionth time trying to loosen up her extremely sore muscles. The loud noise of people talking over each other was giving her a headache so she closed her eyes and tried to block the sound out. As she kept her eyes closed her mind travelled to Steve. She knew taking off without a word was a shitty thing to do, but then again they weren't together so why would he care. Suddenly and an image of his face right after they kissed that night appeared in her head she and she quickly opened her eyes again.

Finally seeing her suitcase, she picked her purse up from the floor, grabbed it of the baggage band and headed for the exit. Manoeuvring past the herd of people, she bumped into someone causing her purse to fall of her shoulder and half of its content to fall out. "Fuck," she hissed and bent down to pick it up and stuff it back into her purse. Having had enough of a crappy day, she didn't care about being polite and pushed past the rest of the people in her way.

As the warm Hawaiian air hit her when she got outside, she instantly regretted the black boots, dark blue denim jeans and black turtleneck she'd put on before leaving London. The fact that the cold, shitty London weather wasn't going to follow her was a thought she'd been too busy and stressed out to have. She took a step to the side, clearing the path for the people behind her and put her stuff down to pull her turtleneck over her head and stuffing it in her already full purse. She picked her belonging up again and started looking for a taxi when her green eyes a set of familiar blue ones.

For a second she held her breath and blinked to make sure she wasn't going crazy and hallucinating. She wasn't. Coming to the conclusion that refusing a ride home from him would be rude, she slowly walked over to the man she'd been dreading to face again since she'd left.

When he saw her trough the sea of people Steve felt something flutter in his stomach, and felt a sense of relief that she was actually back. He watched as she furrowed her brows and walked to the side to take her sweater of with great interest. The way she moved, quick and gracious, made him swallow hard. Again, like many times before, was she wearing a tank top a too tight for comfort. He didn't like the way in accentuated her curves in a way that would make any man stare. And he didn't want any other men to stare at her. He felt a sense of overprotectiveness when it came to that. Something he wasn't used to.

When she finally reached him, he gave him a small smile and she returned the gesture. "What are you doing here?" she asked, already knowing the answer. He raised an eyebrow slightly, but not enough for her to notice. "Max said you were coming back today and thought you might need a ride," he replied with another heart melting smile and reached for her suitcase. She let him take her suitcase and put it in the back of his pickup as she walked to the passenger side and got in. The car smelled of Steve, a musky, earthy yet sweet scent with a hint of what she recognised as gunpowder.

Lost in her own mind and the smell of Steve she didn't notice him get into to the car until the sound of the engine and the faint sound of the radio hit her ears. She quickly gathered herself and leaned into the seat. Even though the aircondition was on, causing goosebumps to run up her arms, she still felt like the temperature kept rising. Not wanting to let on that she was both hot and bothered, she pulled a hair tie of her wrist and pulled her hair up in a ponytail.

As she put her hair in up, Steve took the opportunity to look at her without her knowing. She looked the same as she had the last time he saw her and yet completely different. Her complexion was fairer, probably due to the lack of sun in London during her time there, and she looked tired. He could see it in her eyes, something had happened in London that had drained her eyes of their usual spark.

Deciding he'd had enough of the silence between them, he turned the radio completely off and turned slightly to look at her while at a red light. "How was London?" he asked, trying to make his tone as inconspicuous as possible. She turned to face him and shrugged her shoulders, "London was London. Cold and wet as it usually is this time of year." She replied, keeping her face completely emotionless, not wanting him to see how bad things really were back home. "Did you spend time with your family?" At the mention of her family, keeping her face neutral became harder. "Some. I spent most of my time at the Prescott centre and testifying in court."

Surprised that she spent time working on what she'd told Max was a vacation, Steve felt the need to dig deeper. He knew he probably shouldn't, but for the first time in his life his curiosity got the best of him. "You took a month vacation to work?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. Knowing what he was doing and that her next answer would tell him something even if she didn't give him a proper answer, Grace turned to look straight ahead and pointed to the traffic light. "The lights green," was all she said and Steve understood that he wasn't going to get anything else out of her.

As the minutes went by, the uncomfort Grace was feeling grew and every time she sensed Steve move beside her and she took a quick glance at him it got harder and harder to breath. The image of Steve before and after they kissed ran through her head and the feelings that had rushed through her body when he ran his hands over her back made a shiver run down her spine. Throughout the past four weeks, she had woken up several times in the middle of the night dreaming about Steve, and now, being near him her emotions were running on fumes and she started feeling dizzy.

Noticing Grace giving him several quick glances made Steve feel uncomfortable. Not necessarily in a bad way, but in a way he hadn't felt before. Every time she moved in her seat he fought the urge to look at her. He had never felt this little control over himself and his actions around a woman before and it made him hold his breath from time to time as it scared him to death. He'd never liked not being in complete control and would normally avoid situations where he wasn't, but when it came to Grace he couldn't seem to keep away. No matter how hard he tried.

As the lingering smell of Steve, the continuous flashbacks running through her head and the enormous need to move closer to him didn't stop, Grace started feeling lightheaded and panic rising. "Pull over," she said as calmly as possible. "What?" Steve asked confused. Taking a sharp breath, she looked at him, slight panic showing in her eyes, "pull over, please."

He did as she asked and the second he stopped the car she practically ran out of the car and over to some of the trees, leaning against them. Worried something was really wrong, he got out of the car and walked over to her with a worried look on his face. She looked up at him as he reached her and damned herself for letting her body and emotions take control over her normally rational thoughts. "Are you ok?" he asked cautiously.

Standing up straight and looking right at him, she decided to tell the truth.

"No, I'm not. I haven't been ever since we kissed one and a half month ago. That day just keeps running through my mind all the time and it's driving me insane. I don't know what to do, this has never happened before and I'm really not used to not being on control of my own mind which isn't really helping on the driving me insane part. And I know avoiding you for two weeks and then taking off for a month after talking about it was a shitty move, but I had some stuff to take of at home and I figured it was a good opportunity to take my mind of it, but the distance only made it worse. And now it seems I can't even be in the same car as you without my brain going into overdrive and every rational fibre in my body disappear." Her normally faded accent was now back with a vengeance as she blurted out everything she'd been trying to keep to herself.

Blown away by her statement, Steve couldn't do anything but stare at her. As she met his now almost dark blue eyes, she saw everything she was feeling and a jolt of electricity ran through her body. _Not again!_ she thought to herself as her body took over and her legs closed the distance between them. Crossing her arms behind his neck she pulled his lips to hers and as the met all the pent up tension that had been building since their first kiss left her body.

He responded to the kiss immediately, putting his hands on her waist and pulling her closer. Unlike the last time, Grace didn't bother fight him for control and gave in to him. She bent her neck a few more inched to give him better access as he brushed his tongue over her bottom lip. She opened her lips slightly, her insides turning into mush and as she bit his bottom lip gently he let out a groan and pulled her even closer.

Every rational thought she'd been unable to listen to suddenly came crashing down and she pushed herself away from Steve quickly and with a lot more force than she had meant to. Both of them with a bewildered look on their faces, had to take a deep breath to try and control the urge they had to basically rip each other's clothes of.

"This has to stop. We can't keep doing this." Grace said, gesturing between them. "I know," Steve replied, feeling his pants tighten around a certain area. "It's not like we'd ever work anyways. We're to different and either of us are looking for a relationship and I don't know about you but I'm not really into the whole casual thing." She continued, not sure who she was trying to convince. "You're right, we are to different. And mixing business with pleasure never works."

Convinced they were now done giving in to their attraction to each other, something they both thought would fade with time, they got back into the car and continued the ride to Grace's house.

* * *

As Steve parked his Silverado in Grace's driveway, she turned to look at him for what she was sure had to be the 20th time since they left the airport. "Thank you for the ride," she said with a smile. "No problem," he smiled back and got out of the car to get her suitcase. Her carried it to her door and after she unlocked the front door her placed it just over the threshold.

Not wanting things to be awkward she decided to offer him something to drink as a token of her appreciation. "Do you want a beer?"

Pleasantly surprised by her question he said yes and followed through her living room and into the kitchen. She grabbed two beers out of the fridge and hand him one. She leaned into the island in the middle of her kitchen and he leaned on the counter directly opposite her.

They drank their beers in silence and Grace couldn't help but admire the beautiful man standing in front of her. She couldn't help but think that if she'd not been working as close with him as she was and if he was more emotionally available; he didn't seem like someone who really spoke about his feelings and stated what he wanted when it came to relationships, they might've worked. Sure it would have been a long shot, but with him she would have been willing to try.

Suddenly realising how many good things she'd already given up due to her reasonable, logical and cautious mind, she decided to once again say screw it and go all in. She gently puts her beer down and takes her time closing the small gap between them, not wanting to scare him off with the barging over she'd done earlier.

Noticing Grace taking small steps towards him, Steve puts his beer down and stands up straight, letting her come to him at her own pace. Standing chest to chest, Steve finally realised how much shorter than him she was without her heels on, something he hadn't earlier because he'd been too busy trying not to stare.

Before looking up to meet his eyes, she ran her hands from his pecs and down his muscular chest until she reached his waist and snaked her hands around him so they were resting on his lower back. As their eyes met, Steve raised one hand to her cheek and the other to her waist. In unison they closed the gap between them and compared to the other times they'd kissed this one wasn't as frantic and aggressive. It was gentle and soft, but yet passionate.

Wanting to get as close to each other as possible, she folded her fingers between his neck as he put his hands under her ass and hoisted her up so she could lock her legs around his waist. He pushed against the counter and slowly walked into the living room as Grace used the advantage of him carrying her to let her hands roam and explore his muscular back. Finding it hard to put one foot in front of the other with Grace running her hands all over him, he gave up on trying to figure out where the bedroom was and walked over to the couch instead.

He gently laid her down on the couch and she arched her back in invitation. Laying on top of her, he ran his hand up her leg, from right under her knee all the way up her thigh until he reached the hem of her top and slid his fingers underneath it. The feeling of his calloused hands on her silky smooth skin caused a shiver to run through Grace's body.

He released her mouth to pull her shirt off and took a second to fully take in the beautiful sight in front of him before kissing a trail from the top of her cleavage to the arch of her neck.

Grace shuddered as he kissed her sweet spot right under her right ear, amazed at how well he seemed to know her body. No longer content with herself being the only one without her shirt on, she pulled at the hem of his shirt signalling she wanted it off. He stopped what he was doing to her neck to pull his t-shirt over his head.

He was quick to latch his lips on to hers again, the kiss no longer gentle and soft. Feeling like her body was on fire, Grace let her hands explore every part of his shirtless chest and back causing a deep moan to erupt in the back of his throat. He pulled both the straps of her bra down her shoulders, before dragging his hands to her lace covered breasts and running a finger along the curve of her cleavage.

Feeling the outline of Steve's erection, a sultry moan left Grace and she arched her back once again, her entire body electrified. As much as Steve enjoyed foreplay, he felt a need to have Grace naked he'd never felt with anyone before. He ran his hands down her stomach all the way down to the hem of her jeans and in one swift move both the button and the zipper was undone. Breaking the kiss to help Steve pull her pants of, Grace lifted her butt slightly and pushed jeans down to her knees before Steve pulled them down the rest of the way and threw them over him back.

Craving her lips on his again he laid down on her again, his pants getting tighter over his crotch for every second that passed. He let his fingers play with the hem of her panties before slowly dipping them underneath the soft fabric. The way her body reacted when he touched her combined with the heat and wetness showed him just how much she wanted this.

Slowly losing her mind due to his slow torture, Grace pulled her lips from his for long enough to get two words out, "pants, now!" Steve obeyed her command and did just as quick work on his pants as he did hers. Steve in nothing but his underwear, his hair messy and his breathing heavy was without a doubt the sexiest thing she had ever seen.

Wanting to feel his skin on hers again, she grabbed one of his hands and pulled him back down to her. Steve had known since the first time he laid eyes on her that Grace would be trouble, but that she would have this much of a hold on him so quickly was something he'd never expected. And in a weird way he liked it. He also liked the feel of her soft skin brushing against his.

Letting his hands roam up her entire body; from her ankles, over her hips, along her waist all the way up to her neck, he brought one hand to her cheek again and the another right under her ass. Feeling like was in heaven, Grace brought her fingers to his waist and let one hand play with the hem of it while the other slowly dragged over his crotch.

Pulling on his boxers, Elton John suddenly started playing in the background and if it hadn't been for the position she was in she would have started to cry. "You got to be fucking kidding me!" she hissed, but decided to ignore it and started trailing kisses along Steve's jawline.

Don't go breaking my heart finally stopped playing, and Grace smiled against Steve's jaw as he continued the trail of kisses. Once again pulling on his boxers, her phone started ringing again and she threw her head back in frustration.

"Maybe you should answer it. Could be important." Steve said, knowing it was the only way to get the ringing to stop. Not really wanting to leave the very comfortable position, she let out a angry groan before sliding out from underneath Steve and going for her phone.

"Yeah?" she said into the phone, clearly pissed off. As she took in the information the person on the other side was giving her, Steve could see she wasn't very happy with it. "Yeah, ok." She mumbled and ended the call.

Looking over at Steve who was sitting on the couch, clearly not happy with their moment being ruined, Grace bit her lower lip. The almost naked man sitting in front of her was the most beautiful human being she'd ever laid eyes on and now she would have to leave him without even finishing what they started.

"Work?" he asked, breaking the silence and looking into her eyes. Too pissed off to even answer she just nodded as a response. Knowing that if he looked at her in her underwear a minute longer she wouldn't get to work, he started picking up her clothes from the floor and walked over to hand them to her.

He bent down and kissed her just as passionately as they had before, giving her ass a light squeeze, turning her legs into jelly "To be continued."

* * *

 **A/N: I am so sorry for the late update. My computer decided to die on me again and this time it stayed dead. I had to buy a new and and send the old one to the manufacturer so they could try and extract all my photos and files, which took longer that I originally thought it would. But I finally got all the files back on a backup hard drive today and I got to finish this chapter, which wasn't supposed to so long originally, but since it took so long for an update I decided to make it longer.**

 **Now that I have a new and superfast computer, updating will be easier. Definitely doing two updates a week, no matter how much work I have.**

 **If there is something specific you guys want me to write PM me or write a review and see what I can do.**

 **Hope you liked the chapter and stay tuned for more exciting moments between Grace and Steve!**

 **XOXO  
Hannah**


	9. Lingering touch

Lingering touch

Grace was tossing and turning, her mind racing even in her sleep.

 _A shudder running through her body as he ran his hand up the side of her body._

Shivers running down her back as flashes of an almost naked Steve on top of her kept going through her mind.

 _His lips on her neck and fingers digging into her waist._

A slight whimper escaping her lips as the emotions she'd been feeling mere hours earlier crashed back down on her.

 _Her entire body vibrating as his hand dipped under the fabric of her panties._

Grace shot up in her bed, her breath heavy and small beads of sweat forming at the back of her neck. Looking at her alarm clock, _05:45_ glowing in bold red numbers, she decided to get out of bed 15 minutes earlier than normal and headed for the kitchen She pulled some cold pasta carbonara out of the fridge, poured herself a glass of water and headed for the living room. About to sit down on the couch, she remembered how she'd been laying there almost naked and willing not too long ago and decided to sit in the armchair instead.

Turning on the tv and flicking through the channels, she ended up watching reruns of Downton Abbey while eating cold pasta.

" _To be continued."_ The words Steve had said to her before getting dressed and leaving so she could get to work speed through her mind. Had he been serious? Were they really going to continue and maybe get to finish? Her brain buzzed with questions about whether he really meant it and if she should do it if he did.

Almost finished with her food, her phone started to buzz and she picked it up to see who it was. Caller id said Governor Jameson and she quickly answered. "Dr. Ó Máille," she replied, her voice calm and professional. " _I need you to come down to the USS Arizona, it's urgent."_ The Governor didn't say anything else before hanging up.

Grace quickly got up to put the dishes in the sink and headed for her bedroom to take a short shower and get dressed.

* * *

As Grace parked her car, Steve was getting out of his. She took a minute to gather herself and her thoughts and got out of her car, trying her best to avoid eye contact with Steve to keep things from getting awkward.

Steve noticed Grace parking her car a few feet behind where he parked his own and the events of the previous day flashed through his mind. When he'd told her that they would continue what they'd started before leaving her he hadn't thought he'd see her so soon again.

He knew that if he paid enough attention to her it would become really obvious that something happened, so he decided to keep the conversation, eye – and close contact to a minimum.

They reached the body, the Governor and the rest of Steve's team at the same time, but stood with as much distance between them as possible. Everyone, including the Governor, noticed and Danny gave Chin and Kono a questioning but amused look. The last time they'd acted like they'd been caught with a hand in the cookie jar was after their kiss, so he assumed something similar had happened again.

"The victim's name is Aaron Charles. We went to college together, and when I decided to run for Governor he was one of the biggest contributors to my campaign. He called me last week to tell me he was coming to Hawaii for a few days on a business trip and that was the last I heard from him until he left me voicemail at 2AM." Governor Jameson said, not interested in beating around the bush.

Grace crouched next to the victim to get a get a better view of any visible signs that could help the case.

"Well, he's got defensive wounds on his hands and arms. Some are pretty deep, meaning he put up a good fight. There are no visible signs of trauma other than the defensive wounds," she said before taking a closer look at his hands. "He has some whitish lines on his fingernails and some redness and hyperkeratosis on his arms and neck, both of which are signs of arsenic poisoning, but until I do a tox screen I can't be sure." She finished and took a sample of the residue under his fingernails before getting up and signalling for Tommy to pack up the body and take it to the morgue.

"Call me as soon as you know something." Governor Jameson said and walked off without giving Grace a chance to answer her.

Finally looking over at Steve directly, she took a deep breath to control her nerves. "Autopsy will be done in an hour and a half, two at the most. I'll call to let you know." In response Steve nodded and huffed out a thank you, and Danny gave her his usual warm smile.

* * *

Danny had been sitting in his office for the past half hour just looking over at Steve in his own office. He'd decided to go talk to his partner about a thousand times and then changed his mind, wanting to keep his head attached to his body. But after a final discussion between reason and curiosity, the latter finally won and he got up to go talk to the most stubborn man he'd ever met.

He knocked on the door to Steve's office, to let him know he was entering before practically barging in and sitting in one of the chairs opposite Steve. "What's going on with you and Grace, again?" he blurted out, his plan on being discreet going down the toilet.

Steve was taken aback but not surprised by his Danny's question and made a mental note to control his facial expression. He looked up from what he was doing, not letting any emotion show. Unlike last time, telling Danny the truth wasn't an option.

"Why do you think something is going on between us?" he asked, pretending to have no idea what his partner was talking about. Danny let out a frustrated groan, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Oh, please! Any idiot could see something is going on. You were intentionally keeping as much space between the two of you. I know you're not attached at the hip or anything, but come on! Even Chin and Kono noticed and Tommy threw a confused and amused at Grace after she walked off and he came over to take the body to the morgue." He stated, his voice raised.

Realising if he ever wanted to keep what happened between him and Grace from his colleagues he'd have to stop acting like something happened and go about things like he usually would. Knowing if he just brushed of what Danny said and told him nothing happened he'd just keep poking around, Steve decided to tell him parts of what happened.

"I picked her up at the airport when she arrived yesterday and drove her home. We talked." Technically Grace had done most of the talking, telling him having their first kiss running through her minds was driving her insane. The thought of her bursting out that confession in her actual accent, something Steve found extremely attractive, made him warmth spread through his body.

"You talked, huh?" Danny questioned, knowing he wasn't getting the whole story.

About to ask another question, Steve shot him a look that said we're done talking about this and Danny got up and went back to his own office, his mind full of questions.

* * *

"You kiss the guy in a parking lot and avoid him for two weeks after. Then when you finally talk you take off for a month to deal with "family issues", big shocker there, and when you get back again you tell him how much you've been thinking about the kiss, kiss him again, tell him you can't do it again before eventually getting naked with him on your couch and having your moment interrupted by work." Tommy said, mostly to himself to try and make sense of what was going on with Grace and Steve while she was finishing up the autopsy of Aaron Charles.

"I mean seriously Grace! Make up your mind and stop stringing him along while you deal with your own shit, that I know you'd never tell him about because ridding yourself of your toxic family and their influence is a big no-no. You either stop with the stupid excuses and jump in head first or you cut all ties and keep things a hundred percent platonic. Don't get me wrong and don't ask me why and how, but I love you no matter what and I will always be there for you. But someone need to tell you to stop being such a cladhaire and get your head out the jacks." He finished his rant, that he was quite proud of himself, with a stern look in Grace's direction.

"I know, and you're right. I'll do it, after this case. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go call Steve and the Governor and tell them the autopsy is done," she said and walked over to her desk, Tommy's lecture running in the back of her mind.

* * *

She wasn't sure why she was there. Well she knew why, she just didn't know how to do what she was there to do. Although for each day that passed she felt more and more drawn to Steve, she knew that continuing whatever it was they were doing would only drag him into something that would do more harm than good.

So there she was, standing in front of his house, her mind racing and her nerves on high alert. Knowing that if she postponed this any longer it would just get harder, she gently knocked on his door three times and waited for him to open.

She heard a faint sound of footprints behind the door, before the twist of a lock and the door being opened.

When Steve opened the door he'd been expecting Danny, but was met by Grace. His body immediately stiffened and he swallowed hard. "Hi," was all he managed to get out, his voice hoarse. "Can we talk?" Grace asked, biting her lower lip "Sure."

Steve stepped to the side to let her through the door, suddenly feeling nervous by the tone in her voice. He watched as she looked around the room, taking in the surroundings, glad he'd decided to clean earlier. She slowly turned around to face him, and he could see she was nervous. Although she hadn't said anything yet, he knew. He'd been waiting for the ball to drop all day, wondering who'd be the one to say it.

"I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but what happened yesterday. It can't keep happening, -" she started but was interrupted by Steve mid speech, "I know." Grace was relieved he wasn't putting up a fight, not that she thought he would. It wasn't really like they were anything but friends and colleagues that kissed a couple times and almost slept together.

"You got out of relationship just a few months ago and I have my own stuff to sort out. Continuing this isn't fair to neither one of us and it's only going to make working together more complicated. I don't know about you, but already have enough complicated in my life. So how about from now on, and this time I actually mean it, we keep things strictly platonic." She heard the words leaving her mouth, but she didn't believe them or mean them. All she wanted to do was kiss him and finish what they started the previous afternoon, but she knew that would only put him in danger and make things with her family even more complicated than they already was.

Steve wanted to ask what was so complicated about her life, but decided to let it go. He didn't want to make things more difficult than it needed to be. He knew dragging her into the whole mess with Anton Hesse, the Yakuza and his father's tool box was something he shouldn't do. They'd already gotten to his sister; he wasn't going to let them get to Grace too.

"You're right, I mean we could barely look at each other let alone talk today. Our personal lives shouldn't get in the way of our jobs and how well do them." He agreed, surprised he managed to come up with something so rational when all he wanted to do was take her up to bedroom and keep the promise he made her before leaving her yesterday.

"Alright, well… I'm gonna go, it's been a long day." Her excuse sounded legit, at least she thought it did, when in reality they both knew she said it to get away as fast as possible to make sure they kept the deal they'd just made.

"Yeah, you have a good night." He said with a smile, opening the door again and holding it open for her. She smiled back at him and walked past him, down the pathway leading to his house and into her car where she sat for ten minutes just staring into thin air before driving home.

* * *

 **A/N: And with that season 1 has come to an end. The next oneshot will be set in season 2. I'll try to post it on Monday.**

 **Again I am not a medical professional, so everything written about arsenic poisoning was found online.**

 **Cladhaire is irish for coward(as far as my very limited knowledge of the irish language goes, if I am mistaken feel free to correct me and I will fix it.)**

 **PS: I am aware of some mistakes when it comes to grammar and such, I will start fixing that as soon as I have some extra spare time.**

 **XOXO  
Hannah**


	10. Season 2:

This part of the "story" will start at the beginning of season 2, episode 1 to be exact.

The song for this part is Starving by Hailee Steinfeld, Gray ft. Zedd

 _ **"I didn't know that I was starving 'til I tasted you**_

 _ **Don't need no butterflies when you give me the whole damn zoo**_

 _ **By the way, right away you do things to my body**_

 _ **I didn't know that I was starving 'til I tasted you"**_

Enjoy!


	11. Total clearance

Total clearance

The clock on Grace's dashboard blinked 11:06 as she pulled into her driveway. She parked her car and got out, walking to the trunk to get her groceries before locking it. The sun was burning and the birds were singing, _another day in paradise,_ she thought to herself. She walked to the front door and unlocked it.

Stepping into the cool air of her living room she could sense something was wrong. She didn't know what it was, but something was out of place. She closed the door with her foot and put her groceries down on the floor. If there was someone in her house she knew calling out for them wouldn't help. Having been in the same position several times before, her next move was pure reflex.

Her awareness of her surroundings kicked into full gear and she reached for the gun she kept in a drawer in the hallway and cleared every room one by one. When she reached the guest bathroom she could see that the light was on through the crack under the door. She couldn't hear anything through the door and slowly pushed it open. Lying on the floor surrounded by blood was Steve. He was unconscious and in a police uniform she knew didn't belong to him. "Great," she muttered to herself and put her gun down by the sink. Grace knew what she had to do, the same thing she had done one too many times before to her friends and family.

* * *

The sound of a fan woke Steve up, and as his eyes fluttered open he could see the blades propelling in front of his eyes. "Steve," he heard a familiar voice say. "Steve, come on wake up," the voice said again and snapped their fingers in front of his face. He blinked a few more times before looking around and stopping when he saw her face. He remembered it all now. Victor Hesse stabbing him, knocking out the EMT and the guard in the ambulance, running into the cop at the gas station and driving to her house. Knowing it was the only place no one would look for him and that she would take care of his wound.

As he looked at her Grace let out a breath of relief and gave him a small smile. Steve had forgotten how beautiful she looked when she smiled, it had been one of the few things keeping him going when he was in prison.

He returned the gesture before looking down at the bandage wrapped around his lower torso. "I better not be getting a big scar," he said touching the bandage. Grace scoffed at his remark and slapped his hand away. "Nice to see you haven't forgotten how to say thank you," she answered with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. Steve looked up and into her eyes.

"Thank you", he said. She gave him another warm smile and pushed a strand of hair out of her face, "anytime", she answered.

They both just looked at each other, until Steve finally opened his mouth. "I'm sorry I broke into your house; I didn't really have anywhere else to go." Grace nodded slightly and cleared her throat. "You don't have to apologize. Besides I kind of miss practising medicine on someone who's still alive. I would although like to know how you got hurt. Guessing by the wound it was a crudely sharpened piece of unsterilized metal, so considering you were in prison I'd say it was a shank."

Glad she took so lightly to the fact that he obviously hadn't just been released from prison, he couldn't help but let out a half-hearted chuckle. "Yeah, this guy, Victor Hesse, stabbed me when we were alone in the yard." He explained, gaining a nod from Grace. She knew who Victor Hesse was, Steve had told her about him and his brother and their involvement in his father's murder.

"So I'm guessing someone didn't give you the uniform you were wearing out of the goodness of their heart." she asked already knowing the answer he would give her and not giving him a chance to answer. "You and Tommy are roughly the same size so I had him bring over some clothes for you", she said and put down a pair of dark blue denim jeans, a black t-shirt and a pair of combat boots in front of him. "Thank you" he said and got up into a sitting position and started getting dressed.

Grace got up to get Steve some water when someone knocked on the door, making Steve throw panicked look he way. "Who is it?" he asked. "It's alright Steve," she said walking over to the door. "Grace, don't answer the door", he said and grabbed the gun from the uniform lying on the table and pointed it at the door. Grace didn't listen to him and opened it giving whoever was on the other side a smile before letting them in.

When Steve saw it was Danny and Chin he put down the gun and let out a breath in relief. "What the hell is the matter with you, huh? What is the matter with you breaking out of jail, taking out a cop.? Have you lost your mind?" Danny asked him.

"Why are you yelling at me?" Steve asked him back. "I'm not yelling at you!" he countered back with his voice raised. "Have you lost your mind?" he asked Steve again.

"What choice did I have Danny?" Steve asked his partner. "What choice did you have? What does that even mean?" Danny repeated.

Grace was trying not to laugh at the scene folding out in front of her but found it really hard. She was glad Chin stepped between them before it got out of hand.

"You alright?" he asked Steve in a calm tone.

"Thank you for asking Chin," he said. "Yeah, I'm alright. Thanks to Grace." Steve explained. Chin turned to look at her and gave her a smile, "mahalo for calling." She gave a smile in return.

"Anybody follow you here?" Steve asked Chin and Danny. "Undercover unit tried to, but we managed to shake their tale." Chin told him, causing Steve to calm down a little. "Heard you stole a squad car, where'd you ditch it?" Chin then asked him. "A few blocks south, it's behind a construction site."

"I'll take it up to the North shore, distract the HPD." Chin said. "You are HPD, Chin. Remember." Steve said and Grace could sense the small hint of hurt in his voice. "Just because the badge says HPD, doesn't mean I'm not Five-0. You know that" Chin said. "You do what you have to do. Right now I want to find Wo Fat, you understand." Steve changed the subject.

"Kono is following one of his guys right now, as soon as we have eyes on him we'll be there." As Steve is about to answer Danny's phone starts to ring and he picks it up. "Hello," he says. "Who is it," Steve asks impatiently. "Yeah, he's right here I'll put you on speaker phone" Danny continued.

" _Steve you okay, where are you?_ " Joe asked on the other side of the line. "Yes, Sir. Where are you?" " _I found someone you need to talk to, 5423 Puuikenna Drive. I'll be waiting out front._ " He finished. "Alright, copy that. I'm on my way." Steve said before ending the call.

"Whoah," Danny said stopping Steve. "What do you mean you're on your way? You're not on your way anywhere, you are a fugitive, remember that?" he said clearly annoyed.

"You heard the man, he's got something." Steve said, not understanding why Danny was making such a big deal out of this. "Yeah, I heard him. We all heard him. He doesn't have anything, he's got an address, that's all. Unless Master Yoda can send telepathic messages that the rest of us cannot hear, -"

"Actually, Yoda technically didn't have any telepathic powers," Grace earning her a annoyed glance from Danny before he turned back to Steve

"Please, listen to me. Is there any way I can talk you out of this?" Danny asked Steve. "Has that ever worked before, Danny?" Steve asked him back, meaning for it to me a rhetorical question. "No," he replied.

"Ok, so let's go, yeah?" Steve said and headed for the door. "Wait, wait, wait-" Chin started, stopping Steve and Danny. "You can't take your car, HPD is gonna be on the lookout for it."

"You can take my car," Grace said holding out her car keys. "You sure?" Steve asked, not wanting to get her more mixed up in all of it, but knowing her well enough to know she probably wouldn't care. "Yeah," she said with a smile and handed him her keys and taking Danny's out of his hand. "I'll lead them in the opposite direction," she said as an answer to his questioning look.

* * *

Grace was sitting in the back room of Kamekona's shave ice business, waiting for Steve and Danny to show up. She'd done a lot of thinking ever since Steve got arrested. The second she'd heard all she wanted to do was make a phone call and get him out, but she knew if she did too many of her secrets would be revealed and that wasn't something she could risk. Not even for Steve.

"They're here," Kamekona said, sticking his head through the door before going back to sell shave ice and pretend like nothing was going on. Grace sat up straight in her seat as Steve, Danny, Chin and Joe walked into the room. "Anybody follow you here?" Steve asked her. She shook her head, "no, I drew them towards the north shore and shook them of."

"Good," Steve started before realising Grace and Joe hadn't met before. "Grace this is Joe White, my old CO. Joe this is Dr. Grace Ó Máille, she's the one that stitched me up." He introduced them to each other. "Nice to meet you," Grace said and stretched out her hand. "Likewise," Joe answered and shook her hand.

After discussing for a while, Chin, Danny and Joe decided to go back to the Governors residence and see if they could find camera that filmed the meeting between Steve's father, Wo Fat and Jameson. "I know some people who might be able to find proof that Wo Fat was in that office when Jameson was killed and that he's still here," Grace said, making everyone look at her with curiosity. "And what people would that be?" Danny asked. Realising she was digging a hole she wouldn't be able to just walk out of when this was over, she came to the conclusion that keeping Steve out of prison for good was worth the risk.

"People you can't look up in the yellow pages," she said before walking out of the room to make some calls and not giving Danny or anyone else to ask any more questions.

When she got back Steve was the only one left and she sat down in the chair next to him. "I asked around, but anything he did before the past 24 hours was done completely off the grid. There wasn't much to find, sorry." She explained feeling like she'd let him down in a way. "You don't have apologise, you tried. That really all anyone could ask for." He assured her with a smile.

"I know I already said this, but thank you again for stitching me up and all." Steve thanked her again, feeling like he owed her. "Like I said, it was nice to use my medical skills on an alive human being for a change. Besides I couldn't just let you out on my bathroom floor," she replied with in a mocking tone. Steve couldn't help but laugh a little at the whole situation. "Why'd you decide to become a medical examiner?" he asked what he'd been wondering since they'd met.

Grace considered what to answer before telling him the truth. Or at least parts of it. "Well mainly because you can't kill someone who's already dead. And also because the police's job is to bring the family closure and catch the killer, but as a medical examiner you do the most important part. You give the victim back their voice, you become their advocate when they're unable to speak for themselves. And I think there's something quite beautiful about that." Giving him the standard answer, she left out the most important part. The real reason.

Joe having come back earlier that Chin and Danny, had caught parts of Grace and Steve's conversation and thought to himself that he really liked her and to make sure to tell Steve that. Not wanting to sneak up on them, he opened the door and shut it again to make sure they heard him enter.

"We found the camera, Danny and Chin are going through the footage now." Joe said as he walked into the room. As Steve was about to answer he heard a big commotion from outside before the sound of someone speaking through a megaphone.

"McGarrett, we have the building surrounded, come out with your hands up!"

After Kamekona asking what he wanted to do and thinking it through for a minute he decided to go outside and surrender, leaving Joe and Grace looking out through the window at a detective approaching him as he got down on his knees to cuff him. As Steve was getting cuffed and hauled up to his feet, Danny and Chin pulled up and the same detective that cuffed Steve motioned for the two of them to be arrested to. Grace could see Steve trying to explain they had nothing to do with it, but suddenly another man walked up and after he exchanged a few words with the detective and the rest of the officers Steve was uncuffed and the cops backed off.

Confused as to what just happened, Grace walked outside with Joe and Kamekona at her heels. Apparently the man that had walked up was Lieutenant Governor Denning and he'd been shown the video of Wo Fat tasering Steve before killing Jameson. Relieved Steve wasn't hauled back to prison, as they were all standing around the computer on the table at the back of Kamekona's shave ice shop to watch the video, Grace grabbed Steve's hand and squeezed it.

* * *

"So who are these friends you've got that can't be found in the yellow pages?" Danny asked the question he'd been wondering about for hours. After Steve was completely cleared of all charges everyone had gone to the bar at the Hilton Hawaiian village to have drinks.

Curious to whether she would tell the actual truth or the modified one, Tommy gave her an amused look. "Yes, Grace. Who are these friends of yours?" he repeated Danny's question. Giving Tommy a glare before looking back at Danny, Grace took a deep breath and started to explain. "At the beginning of my career, I worked as a medic in the Royal Marines. Where I met a few people in high places within military intelligence etc. I might've also for a small period worked at the Ministry of Defence." She explained, only giving them the highlights and not the whole story.

Everyone extremely surprised by what they'd just been told, they all just sat and looked at her for a while before anyone said anything. "You worked at the Ministry of Defence, as what?" Kono asked, impressed by the new information about Grace. "I was the personal attaché for the Secretary of State for Defence. Wherever he went, I went." Grave answered, that part completely true.

"Wow," was all Danny managed to get out as the rest of the group just looked at her with amazement. Steve felt something move inside him when he learned she'd been a marine and worked for the Secretary of State for Defence. His admiration and awe of her just growing with every new thing he learned about her.

* * *

 **A/N: So here it is, another chapter.**

 **I have no idea of the British Secretary of State for Defence has his own personal attache, but in this universe he does so...**

 **Hope you enjoyed.**

 **XOXO  
Hannah**


	12. Envy

Envy

The sound of aggressive knocking woke Grace up from her slumber. She sat up in bed, not really sure what the sound that woke her up was. Then the knocking started again, and she swung her feet down on the floor. Already pissed off at whoever was knocking on her door at three in the morning, she slowly headed out of her room, down the stairs and toward the front door. She didn't really care that the person on the other side had to wait, they were the one knocking on her door at the crack of dawn.

As she unlocked and opened the door to see who had woken her up, she felt her stomach drop and her blood boil with anger as she looked into the last person she wanted to see.

"What in god's name are you doing here!" she spat at him. The man standing on her doorway didn't take offense to her icy welcoming and gave her an amused smile.

"Ok, first of all; there's no need to bring God into this. And secondly, is this how you welcome all you guest or just your brother?" he said with a smirk. Her need to punch him in the face grew with his remark and she shot him a death glare.

"I'm not in the mood for your fucking games, Sean. Now what the hell do you want?"

Giving her a shrug in response, he picked his bag of the ground and pushed past her and into the living room. "Nice place," he said, taking in the surroundings before settling down on the couch.

"Sean Alastar Ó Máille, answer my damn question or I swear to God I'll give you a clatter in the clackers!" Grace threatened and her brother knew she meant it so he gave up on trying to win the argument.

"Things are getting a little hairy back home, thought it be best if I left town for a while." He explained, making her even angrier. What kind of idiot think the best place to hide out is with his sister who happens to work closely with the police.?

"And you thought coming here would be a good idea? Are you completely gone in the head?" she asked, kicking his feet of her coffee table where he'd placed them a second earlier. "You know what? I don't have the time or energy to deal with you right now, I'm going back to bed. The guestroom is round the corner." She didn't give him a chance to respond and stomped off back to her room before diving into bed and burying her head in the pillows.

* * *

The morning after Grace thought it had all been a bad dream, but when she woke up to her brother making a full English breakfast she realised it was real and that her brother had indeed shown up at her doorstep at 3AM.

After yet another heated discussion about why he'd thought it would be a good idea to crash into her life, she decided she needed her daily dose of coffee and dragged her brother with her to Wailana's where she ordered a triple shot latte.

"You know Caroline and Collin had another baby? I'll tell you, with the odd hours Collin keep I'm surprised he has the time, let alone the energy to make babies." Sean said in between bites, practically showing the cinnamon roll down his throat. "Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ, you ever heard of table manners? I mean seriously." She groaned, wanting to melt into her seat so that no one could see her sitting across her sad excuse of a brother eating like a two-year-old.

Knowing his actions was annoying her, Sean came to the conclusion that if he didn't stop she'd most likely maim and kill him then and there. He put the rest of the cinnamon roll down, wiped the powdered sugar of his fingers and downed the rest of his coffee. "My sincerest apologies, your royal highness. I'll make sure to never commit such a heinous crime again," he joked, gaining a smile from Grace. It was the first time he'd seen her smile, really smile, in a really long time and he'd missed it. Whenever she smiled like that, all the worries in the world seemed to disappear.

As Grace was about to open her mouth with a sarcastic answer she saw Steve enter the coffee shop out the corner of her eye and panic rushed over her. "Get up!" she whispered at Sean, looking at him with a desperate expression. Confused as to why she'd suddenly turned pale, he followed her eyes and saw Steve ordering his coffee. "Why? Who is he?" he asked. Meeting Steve's eyes as he turned to look for an available table, she gave him a small smile and saw him start to head in her direction. "Just leave!" she pleaded, and Sean knew better than to question her so he grabbed the rest of his cinnamon roll and quickly left.

Steve approached her with a smile like usual and she returned the gesture. "Did I interrupt something?" he asked, fishing for information about who the guy who just left was. "No, he's just an old friend," she lied and gestured for him to join her. "So I heard you have a new colleague. Lori, right?" she asked, changing the subject and wanting to find out more about this Lori person. She wasn't sure why, but when Max had told her about Steve's new female co-worker who apparently was quite attractive she'd felt a tinge of jealousy. Well she knew why, she was envious of her because she got to work closely to Steve on an everyday basis. Something Grace didn't.

They talked for a while, about Lori, his father and the investigation into Jameson and a little about her days in the Royal Marines. She was grateful for the fact that Steve trusted her enough to talk about his father and their relationship with her.

Ever since Grace had patched him up Steve hadn't felt the need to keep things from her and not tell her the whole truth. Even about his father, no matter how little he actually liked talking about the subject. He also realised that when she'd told not just him but the rest of the team about her being a former marine and having worked at the Ministry of Defence, it had been a big deal. Even if she obviously hadn't told them everything.

He'd asked Tommy if it was in the marines him and Grace had met, but all he answered was _"it's complicated."_ Something a lot of things involving Grace seemed to be. Complicated. Like earlier, when the man she'd had coffee with had practically ran away when Grace saw Steve. He could sense he was more than just a family friend, and in all honesty he felt a tinge of jealousy over the fact that she might have a boyfriend.

As their conversation about anything and everything went on, Steve's phone started to ring and he picked it up in a flash. "McGarrett," he said in his usual gruff voice. Grace looked out the window and sipped the little that was left of her coffee, not wanting to eavesdrop. "Yeah, we'll be right there." He said before hanging up and getting up. "We've been summoned to the palace," he said, a hint of amusement in his voice. Nodding, Grace got up, grabbed her purse and followed him outside.

Realising Sean had been the one driving earlier and that he'd taken the car when he left, she looked around to see if she could get a cab. Noticing what she was doing, Steve put his hand on her lower back and started to steer her toward his car. "I'll drive," he said as they reached his pickup and held the door open for her.

* * *

"Great, you're here. Chin play the video." Danny said as Steve and Grace walked into the offices of Five-0. When they reached the rest of the team standing around the com-table. As Chin pressed play on the footage from a security camera, he explained what was going on. "Last night at 1:45AM; Rupert O'Brian, one of Interpol's most wanted fugitives, was killed in the parking lot at Honolulu International." He said as the footage of Rupert O'Brian, a name that sounded vaguely familiar to Grace, fighting some guy before getting a knife in the neck.

"The killers face isn't visible in the footage, but a guy of the same height and build, wearing the same clothes was caught on another camera leaving the parking lot at ground level a few minutes later." He continued, pulling up the second footage.

The sight of the man on the video made Grace's entire body stiffen and she felt anger and confusion starting to boil up. Steve had the same reaction, for a different reason and turned to look at Grace with an expression she couldn't quite read. "You want to tell me what's going on?" Steve asked her, his tone harsher than he'd intended.

Grace just looked at him, her eyes blank and facial expression completely controlled. The anger, panic and fear she was feeling wasn't detectible to anyone but her.

Danny a little confused as to why Steve would ask her that question, cleared his throat to get both of their attention. "You know something we don't?" he asked the both of them. They both just looked at him, showing no signs of budging and sharing information they obviously have.

While listening to the scene playing out in front of him, Chin got an idea and after a minute he found what he was looking for. Uncertain on how the information would be perceived, he decided to just tell them without sugarcoating it.

"He didn't rent a car and his picture isn't among the ones of the people who arrived last night, so we don't know his name. So I figured he probably took a cab, and he did. I followed it by using traffic cams and this is where he was dropped off." He said as he put up the final traffic cam video of the cab pulling into a house they were all familiar with.

Finally realising why Steve asked for an explanation earlier, Kono, Chin and Danny all looked at Grace. None of them with the same angry, almost disappointed look as Steve.

"I'll ask again. Want to tell us what's going on?"

Not sure herself why her brother killed that guy and what was indeed going on, Grace knew that if she tried explaining even the slightest thing about her family and brother Steve would probably arrest both of them. Not in the mood or willing to stand and take any more of Steve's judging expression, Grace gave them all a cold and emotionless glance and picked her purse of the floor. "No," she said coolly before turning on her heels and walking out, ready to beat the living crap of her house guest.

* * *

 **A/N: a clatter in the clackers means a punch in the testicled(thank you to my lovely, irish cousin Fiona for that one).**

 **Like my characters Grace and Tommy + the Prescott centre, Sean Alastar Ó Máille is also mine. Every other character belongs to CBS.**

 **Hope you enjoyed! And again reviews are always welcomed with open arms.**

 **XOXO  
Hannah**


	13. Partial truth

Partial truth

It had been two weeks. Two weeks since her brother showed up on her doorstep, two weeks since he'd been seen killing a man on camera and two weeks since she had seen or spoken to Steve, Danny, Chin and Kono. She had also avoided running in to their new team member, Lori, not wanting get the urge to ask about Steve. She realised that avoiding Steve and the rest every time things got awkward or complicated was a childish thing to, but she wasn't ready to tell the truth. Nor did she know how to tell it.

It had been two weeks of her and her brother walking on eggshells around each other and she'd had enough.

She walked through her kitchen and out the back door to where her brother was sitting looking out at the ocean. He was sipping a beer and doing Sudoku, something he only did when he needed to clear his mind.

She sat down on the chair next to his, still not saying a word. Taking a deep breath and bracing herself for the hail of fire about to rain down on her for bringing it up, she cleared her throat to let him know she was going to say something.

Sean put his Sudoku down and moved slightly in his chair to look at his sister. He had a hunch about what it was she wanted to talk about, he'd had it since she came home two weeks ago, not able to look him directly in the eyes. Not really ready to tell her what was really going on, he knew that he wouldn't have a choice.

His sister was a master at looking through his lies and could read him better than anyone else. She had that skill when it came to everyone in their family, and it scared most of them. They all knew that trying to mess with her and lie would only result in them getting a punch in the face and a verbal smack down.

"Why'd you do it?" she asked, knowing he'd know what she was referring to.

"Because of you," he answered, leaving Grace shocked and wondering. Taking a second to process what her brother had just said, she closed her gaping mouth before continuing the questions.

"How can it be because of me?"

"You remember the name Rupert O'Brian?" he asked. Again, just like when Chin had said the name two weeks' prior, Grace felt a pang of recognition but she couldn't place it. "He's a Red hand defender with a special interest in the family, in you."

Not giving her a chance to answer, Sean continued. "He's the one who threw the Molotov cocktail into our car when we were kids. After that he went off the grid completely; for good reason. We had no idea if he was even still alive until he showed up in Armagh 5 weeks ago. Word was he was planning some sort of attack but we weren't sure on who and where. Then when we found out he'd booked a ticket here we knew he was coming for you."

Not sure how to process what her brother had just told her, Grace grabbed the beer bottle form his hands and chugged what was left. Her memories of that day were cloudy and in fractions, but one thing she would never be able to forget was the extreme heat coming from the car as it went up in flames and how hard it was to breathe as she sat on the pavement surrounded by black smoke.

"So you just followed him into the parking lot and what? Killed him right then and there?" Grace asked. She knew her brother had killed people in the past, but she didn't like the idea of him killing a man in cold blood, no matter how bad he was.

"No, I followed him and confronted him. I gave him the option of going back home, but he refused and grabbed for his knife. I wasn't planning in killing him, but I would've done it again. If it meant keeping you safe." Sean had always put his sister's life before his own, all her brothers had. Especially when she'd gotten a shot at having some sort of a normal life.

Nodding in response, Grace got up from her seat. "I'm going to go tell Steve everything you just told me and try to make him understand where you came from and why you did it. I can't promise he won't arrest you, but if he does you won't try to run. This is my life now, Sean and I like it. So as much as I love you I can't go around ignoring the people I work with forever." She explained and Sean knew well enough that there was no way in hell he'd get her to change her mind and that she was right. No matter how much he hated to admit it.

* * *

Sitting at his desk, Steve was doing paperwork he'd been putting out doing and saving up for a week. His day hadn't been very eventful and he'd found his mind traveling to the case from two weeks ago that Grace obviously had something with on more than just one occasion. He wanted to know who the guy on the tape was and how Grace knew him. But she'd been completely ignoring him for the past two weeks, something that seemed to be a pattern.

He dropped his pen on the report he was working on and leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling. Everyone else had gone home per his instruction, so he was completely alone with his thoughts.

A gentle knock on his door got his attention back to the real world and he looked down from the ceiling to see Grace standing outside his office door. He felt a lump appear in his throat and he suddenly became nervous. With a polite smile he motioned for her to come inside and when she did the familiar smell on lavender and vanilla that always followed her filled his nostrils.

"Can we talk?" she asked gently, not sure whether to smile or not. Like usual her usually rational brain turned to complete mush when she was in the same room as Steve and when he motioned for her to sit down on one of the chairs in opposite him her heart skipped a beat.

"What do you want to talk about?" he asked, not able to read her expression as he would have liked to.

"Rupert O'Brian," she said after swallowing hard and taking a deep but silent breath.

Steve automatically sat up a little straighter in his chair and cleared his throat feeling the lump grow. "What about him?" he managed to get out without his voice cracking.

Knowing if she stretched it out any longer she's chicken out, Grace let her well build guard down and told him everything. Well everything he needed to know.

"The man who killed him, his name is Sean Alastar Ò Máille and he's my brother. He did it because Rupert was going to hurt me, that's why he was on the island. My brother being as protective as he is, tried to convince him to go back home but he refused and pulled a knife on him. I know it doesn't excuse what he did and him just taking off without calling 911, but I just wanted you to know that he didn't just do it for fun."

Taking a minute to process what Grace had just told him, he took that time to study her face. She looked genuinely sorry for what her brother had done and sincere when she'd said he was only trying to protect her. Something Steve understood very well, having that same need himself.

"Why would Rupert O'Brian want to hurt you?" he asked, surprising Grace.

"Because of some stupid, several decades long blood feud. His family hates mine and my family hates his. We normally don't cause each other actual physical harm, but Rupert he… he's always had an unnaturally large dislike toward me. He's only ever acted on it once before 14 years ago, but when he failed he disappeared. Until now." Even though what Grace told him wasn't the whole truth, she knew if he found out the real reason to why Rupert wanting to hurt her he'd never look at her the same again. So if making up a blood feud was what she had to do to prevent that from happening then so be it.

"Well from what you told me, it seems like your brother killed him in self-defence. If he's willing to come in to make a statement, I'm sure we can make sure he'll stay out of jail." Steve said, once again surprising Grace.

"You don't have to do that. He's knows he screwed up and he'd ready to take the consequences. Well maybe not ready, but willing." Grace didn't want Steve to jeopardise his job for neither her or her brother.

"Look, we have no leads and no evidence. Rupert had a several unregistered weapons in his luggage and the phone number to a local explosives expert. It's clear he was her to harm someone. We also managed to retrieve a few more minutes of the security tape from the airport which clearly shows your brother showed up unarmed with no intention to kill him. So how about you trust me on this and let me do my job? Believe it or not I'm actually pretty good at it."

Accepting Steve's help, Grace called her brother and told him he would have to show up at the palace the next day make a statement and then making it very clear she wanted him to go back home right after.

After settling some more formalities and Grace giving her own statement to Steve he offered her a beer and got one out of the mini fridge behind his desk.

"So why do you want your brother to leave as soon as he's made his statement?" Steve asked curious.

"Because, and don't get me wrong I love my brother, but he's a pain. He sticks his nose where it doesn't belong, he has no sense of boundaries when it comes to personal life and he's favourite activity is to annoy me as much a humanly possible. You should've seen what Sunday dinner was like when we were growing up. Sean, Rhys and Cameron would make it feel like running a marathon. Our dad used to think it was hilarious, so did our uncle." Before she even realised what she'd said it was too late. Grace never talked about her family, let alone her father. To anyone.

Steve knew Grace didn't like talking about her family, her father in particular. And even though he could see from the expression on his face that she hadn't planned on telling him about her family's Sunday dinners, he was grateful that she did.

"You don't talk about father much," he said, knowing he was stepping into dangerous territory.

"Neither do you," Grace answered back. Knowing Steve didn't like talking about his family either. "I guess everyone has their own family stuff they'd rather not talk about, but somehow talking about it with you doesn't feel strained and uncomfortable." Laying her cards on the table, Grace knew she was stepping into a grey area if she didn't stop herself from getting more and more drawn to Steve. They had already established they were going to stay friends.

"It's a gift, people just open up to me. Something about my personality I think." Steve teased, trying to lighten the mood.

Leaning back in her chair, Grace took a sip of her beer and gave him a smile. "And here I was thinking it was due to your striking good looks," she teased back with a hint of sarcasm. They looked at each other for a while, not saying a word with a smile on their lips.

Before Grace got a chance to continue, her phone started to vibrate in her back pocket. She reached for it and saw it was Max that was calling. She answered with her usual, "Ò Máille." She took in the information being feed to her and told Max she'd be right there.

She put the beer down on Steve's desk and looked at him once more. "I've got to go see a man about a dead body," she said with a smile and got up. As she was halfway through the door Steve called her name and she turned to him. "Yeah?" she asked him, thinking she'd forgotten something. "Thank you, for telling me the truth."

Grace gave him a warm smile in return, "thank you for listening." She answered before she left. Leaving Steve to himself with a smile on his lips.

* * *

 **A/N: I am really sorry for the late update. Things have been completely insane and I just haven't had the time to either write or post. The second update will come before the end of the day tomorrow.**

 **Hope you liked the chapter, and thank you for reading!**

 **XOXO  
Hannah**

 **PS: You'll get to find out more about this Rupert character later and what the Red hand defenders are. If you'd like you can google it, but like I said it will be explained in later chapters.**


	14. Exciting adventure

Exciting adventure

The sound of the wind whistling, water running and birds singing surrounded Grace as she continued up the hiking trail. Tommy had recommended it to her, saying it was one of the most beautiful hikes he'd ever done.

Being halfway to the top she saw a path heading in an another direction, deeper in to the huge masses of trees and plants, most of which she'd never seen before. Contemplating on whether to continue on the main path or not, she decided to try the unmapped one.

Taking in the continuation of beautiful scenery Grace couldn't help but smile. She'd seen a lot of spectacular and beautiful places, but this had to be one of her favourites by far. Travelling had always been something she'd loved and even though her reasons for going to a lot of the places she'd been in her life, she'd always taken the time to appreciate the beauty of them.

The further along the path she got the more birds she could hear and the amount of hibiscuses increased. She stopped to look at some of the beautiful flowers and smell them. The hibiscus had always been one of her favourite flowers and being surrounded by them made her happy.

"Grace?"

The sound of someone calling her name drew her back to reality and she turned around to be met by a pair of familiar blue eyes. Her stomach immediately fluttered and she felt heat spread from her head to her toes. He was wearing a well-used cut off t-shirt with the Navy SEALs logo on it and basketball shorts. All she could think of was how attractive this man was.

"Steve, hi. You're not following me are you?" she asked, glad they were back to their usual easy going tone and not the strained one they'd had a week before.

"Well I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." He joked back, happy they were back to normal again. Grace laughed at his comment and Steve took the time to take her in, like he'd done som many times in the past.

She was wearing cotton shorts, a purple bikini top under a grey loose tank top with her hair up in a ponytail and sunglasses on her nose. She looked perfect.

"I don't normally do this, but since you're here do you want to join me?" Grace offered, hoping he'd say yes.

Steve smiled in return, "sure".

They continued down the path, like usual talking about everything and nothing. It had been a long time since either of them had felt such at ease, so comfortable, so content.

After a while the sound of rushing water caught Grace's attention and she followed it. A few yards in she was met with the most beautiful sight she'd ever seen. A huge waterfall with bright green vines, colourful flowers and the sunlight shining through the trees made it seem magical.

"Wow!" was all she managed to get out, still flabbergasted by the beauty of the place.

Steve was also overwhelmed by the beauty, but what really caught his attention was Grace. The sunlight hitting her face, making her skin glow and the pure happiness in her eyes as she took in everything. "It's beautiful," she said, still looking around. Still focused on Grace, Steve barely managed to get out an answer. "Yeah."

Finally feeling like she's taken in all there was to take in, Grace turned to look at Steve with a gleam in her eyes and a teasing smile. Before he got a chance to ask her what she was thinking about, she started to get undressed. She started with pulling her tank top over her head and then kicking of her shoes and shimmying out of her shorts.

Mesmerized by the sight of Grace in a bikini, Steve stood frozen on the spot as she jumped into the water. It took him a second to register what had happened and when he did he turned to see Grace floating on her back, the sunlight reflecting of her body.

"You coming in or what?" she asked, still floating on her back.

Steve didn't want to be a downer but he didn't really think swimming with Grace, especially when she looked like a gift from god in her bikini, was the greatest idea. "I'm good," he answered.

A little surprised, Grace opened her eyes and turned her head to look at him. Not willing to no for an answer, she decided to tease him into getting into the answer. Knowing the male ego and pride would take over.

"Commander McGarrett don't tell me you're afraid of a little water. I thought Navy SEALs were tougher than that." Knowing mentioning him being a SEAL and fear of water would be the only thing he'd hear, she wasn't surprised when he threw his backpack on the ground while kicking his shoes of before finally pulling his shirt over his head, revealing his perfectly toned abdominal and chest area.

Swimming a little to the side, sure he would try to splash as much water at her when he jumped in, Grace watched as he dived into the water.

After a few minutes of swimming around in silence Steve notices the water getting a faint red tint around the area Grace was swimming. He pointed it out, causing Grace to do a once over to check for scratches. As she checked her right chin she noticed a cut and got out of the water, Steve right behind her, to check it out.

On her chin was a not very big, but deep cut that was gushing blood. Completely used to blood and gore in her everyday life, she didn't make a big deal out of it and grabbed her backpack to get the medical supplies she brought. She took out some antiseptic solvent, a small compress, gauze and medical tape before getting to work.

Impressed by how easily she wrapped up her cut without making a fuzz about it, Steve watched as she slapped on the last piece of medical tape to hold the gauze in place.

"You should probably get that looked at by a doctor," he said, knowing there was a chance she could get an infection. Grace just snorted at his remark as she packed her stuff and started getting dressed. "It has been looked at by a doctor, me." She said, brushing of his concern.

"I meant a doctor that's not biased," he tried again, not willing to give up until she agreed to stop by the emergency room. Grace looked up at him as he too was getting dressed and gave him a frustrated and unwilling expression. "I hate hospitals," she told him.

"Yeah, well if you're not willing to do it for you then how about you do it for me. It'll give some peace of mind to know you won't die in the middle of the night of an infection." He tried one more time, hoping this time she'd agree.

Letting out a loud sigh, she got up and threw her backpack on. "Fine," she groaned, causing Steve to smile in victory.

They walked back to the small parking lot at the beginning of the trail in a comfortable silence. As they reached their cars Steve grabbed Grace by the elbow as she was about to walk over to hers. "I'll drive, I'll have HPD pick yours up and bring it to your house." He said and guided her to the passenger side of his pickup. "It's a small cut, it is not like I'm paralyzed." She complained as she got into his car. Ignoring her, Steve walked over to the driver side before getting in and driving off.

* * *

It had been 20 minutes since Grace had been brought into an examination room by a nurse and she was now trying to tell the intern doing her stitches how to do it properly so she won't get a scar. "No, you… you're doing it wrong. Here, let me show you." She told the young girl and took over. Steve couldn't help but be amused by how much of a control freak she was and he wasn't really surprised she'd taken over her own treatment.

"See, if you do it like this the chance of a visible scar is minimal and it doesn't take as long." She explained as she finished up the last stitch and cutting the thread. Surprisingly enough the intern didn't seem discouraged by the fact that Grace had totally taken over, but grateful over the knowledge Grace had shared. "Right, ok. Now I just have to give you a tetanus shot and then I'll go get you some antibiotics just in case."

"How about," Grace said, taking the needle from the intern. "I give myself the shot and you just go get the pills. That sound ok?" she asked, not giving of the vibe that not agreeing was a possibility. The intern just nodded before walking out to get Grace her antibiotics.

"Wow, you really don't know how to not be a doctor do you?" Steve mocked her. Grace just rolled her eyes as she pushed the hem of her shorts down a little to give herself the tetanus shot. "I'm sure she's fully capable of stitching me up, but she was taking forever and in medicine efficiency saves lives." Not willing to argue her on that, Steve just sat back in the chair he was seated in as they waited for the intern to come back.

After waiting for another 5 minutes, she finally came back with the pills and the discharge papers and after signing them Grace practically ran out of the ER.

Steve followed closely on her heels and when he reached her she was leaned into the passenger side of the car. "You really don't like hospitals do you?" he asked.

"I spent a lot of time in them when my mom was sick, so no I don't." Grace knew her choice of career contradicted that fact, but since the morgue wasn't in the basement of a hospital it worked just fine.

"What was she like?" Steve tried, not sure if she'd answer the question or not. Biting her lower lip, she met his eyes. "Like a ray of sunshine. Forever the optimist and the kindest person you'd ever meet. She loved to help people and give to the less fortunate. Her favourite thing to do was to bake, her pies were amazing and she always made me feel safe." Like usual Grace wasn't sure why she seemed to open up to him so easily, but she did. And it didn't scare her.

Steve was happy that Grace told him about her mom. Ever since she'd told him she had died when Grace was 4, he'd felt a different kind of connection to her. Sure he was older than her when his mom died, but he still understood the feeling.

He figured she probably didn't want to talk much about her mother anymore, so he unlocked the car and opened the door for her.

Again they were left in a comfortable silence and Grace took the time to look at Steve as he was focused on driving. They had known each other for almost a year and already she felt an intense sense of fondness and comfort toward him. He was one of the greatest people she'd ever met and she felt lucky to be able to call him her friend. Although sometime she still thought back to that moment of weakness, pressed under his body on her couch, his lips on hers.

As he parked in her driveway, her car already delivered, she decided to invite him in for food and drinks. "You want to come inside? I have leftover lasagne and beer." She offered.

"Lasagne is good."

* * *

 **A/N: Guess who's back with another late update, it's your girl Hannah!**

 **Yeah, so... things have not gone my way lately. With writing and just life in general. It started 2 month ago when I broke my ankle from, wait for it, walking onto the pavement. Sure some guy shoved me causing me to lose my balance but still. Talented right? Well, even though the cast came off like 6 weeks ago and I've had this walking boot thingy since it still hurts, it's stiff as hell and my knee is completely fu**ed up from not being used properly for ages. So yesterday morning when I got out of bed my foot was unusually swollen, more than it is normally now so I called the ER to ask if it was something to be worried about, apparently it was. So there was at 10 am on a sunday sitting in the waiting room, wearing purple pj pants, my cousin's old navy t-shirt, christmas hoodie and my hair in the same bun I had slept with. I looked like a scarecrow. Then after waiting for 8 hours(apparently the ER is popular on sundays) they tell me it was just a reaction from the pain killers I am on and all they had to do was to put me back on the ones I'd gotten the first time I was there.**

 **So long story short, sort of, my sunday was spent at the ER and in traffic. By the time I got home I was starving and tired. I fell asleep right after consuming a large pizza by myself.**

 **Like always, hope you liked the chapter:)**

 **XOXO  
** **Hannah**


	15. Authors note

Hi everyone!

I am so very sorry that I haven't updated or anything for almost 4 weeks now.

Between exams, work, physical therapy and just taking an hour to breathe and talk to my friends and family I haven't had the time or energy to write and/or publish anything.

My final exam is at the end of next week and after that there'll be almost no school work left to do, meaning I'll finally get started again.

Until next time,  
Hannah :)


	16. Worry

_**Hi guys!**_

 _ **I am so, so, SOOOO sorry about the extremely late update.**_

 _ **The reason behind my absence is two things:**_

 _ **1) I have been sick on and of (mostly on) since right after my last author's note. It's not until now, 8 months since I last left you guys a sign I was still alive, I ca sit more 5 minutes in front of any type of screen without feeling like my head is about to explode along with a lot of other crappy and extremely uncomfortable symptoms. I've been admitted to the hospital between 8-10 times since before new year's, so to say updating and writing Undeniably perfect hasn't been a priority is an understatement.**_

 _ **2) In addition to me being sick, there has happened a whole lot of different stuff on the family front with several bad periods.**_

 _ **I don't want to go any more into detail as were about to cross a line into my personal life I'm not comfortable with. I just wanted you guys to know I wasn't blowing off updating because I couldn't be bothered.**_

 _ **Now, I'm not going to make any promises as to how frequent updates are going to be from now on, but I have started writing again and I am really excited to continue Steve and Grace's story!**_

 _ **I hope you enjoy this chapter and as always reviews is what gives me life and I love hearing from you guys so!**_

 _ **XOXO Hannah 3**_

* * *

Worry

The clinical sound of respirators, defibrillators and nurses buzzing made Grace ten times more anxious than she already was, and she considered leaving the hospital all together, but the image of an injured Steve kept her seated in one of the endless plastic chairs that filled the halls.

Since she'd rushed to the hospital twenty minutes earlier, exactly seven ambulances had shown up and Steve had been in none of them. When Steve had told her he was going to North Korea to help Jenna get her fiancée back from Wo Fat she wanted to beg him not to go, and when Danny had told her he'd been kidnapped by Wo Fat and they were going to save him she wanted to go with them. Something she knew she couldn't do without raising questions she wouldn't be able to answer.

So that's why she was in the one place she hated the most, waiting for Steve to show up.

Feeling like her entire body was shaking, she stood up and started pacing. She wanted to believe he was fine, but her mind just kept going back to the worst case scenario. It has been a long time she'd cared this much about someone else's well-being and she didn't know how to handle it.

"Pacing ain't gonna make him get here any faster," Tommy said, walking up to her with a large coffee and finally breaking the silence. Even though she knew he was right, she couldn't make herself sit down. "Come on," Tommy said calmly while putting a hand on her shoulder and leading her back to the chairs. She looked at him with a worried expression, "I'm worried, Tommy."

"I know. He's gonna be fine, I have a feeling he doesn't break that easily." He said reassuringly. "Besides, he has the best doctor in the world waiting for him at the hospital so I'd say the odds are in his favour." Grace just gave Tommy a small smile in response as she accepted the coffee he'd brought for her and rested her head on his shoulder.

They sat and waited for what felt like hours, when a nurse finally walked up to them. "They're here." Relieved, Grace quickly got out of her seat and followed the nurse to the examination room Steve was in.

When she entered, he was laying on the examination table while another nurse was checking his vitals and assessing his visible injuries. He looked terrible.

Studying the monitors, she noticed his blood pressure was falling slightly and all she wanted to do was push the nurse out of the way and take care of him herself. "His blood pressure's falling," she told the nurse, not sure if her voice would crack or not.

Both the nurse and Steve turned their heads in her direction, the nurse confused and Steve shocked.

"None of his visible injuries should be enough to tank his blood pressure."

"What are you doing here?"

Steve and the nurse said at the same time.

Deciding saving his life was more important than indulging his curiosity, Grace stepped over to the nurse and placed her hands on Steve's torso to feel for internal injuries.

"He has two broken ribs, at least and what feel like a ruptured spleen. He'll need an x-ray and CT scan to be sure. I'd also do a head scan, just to be sure." She told the nurse. "And I'm here because you managed to get yourself kidnapped and tortured and I'm a doctor so…" she then turned to tell Steve who seemed extremely unsatisfied with having to be examined let alone be admitted.

"I don't need an x-ray or anything else, I'm fine." He tried explaining while the nurse was checking his vitals one last time before leaving the room to order the CT.

"Yeah, and the Germans won world war 2 and we don't need oxygen to survive." She replied sarcastically, earning her a confused look in return. "I'm sorry, I thought we were sharing idiotic statements that's nowhere near true."

"Funny."

"Not really."

The air suddenly thickened and Steve saw something in Grace's eyes he'd never seen before. She looked tired, like she'd been up for days and her eyes were puffy and lifeless. Her hair was in a messy ponytail and she was wearing sweatpants and an old, torn t-shirt. Compared to her usual colourful and warm attire and energy, she seemed drained.

"You ok?" he asked with trepidation.

"You almost died. I don't like it when people I… when people I care about almost die. I also don't like it when they brush it of like it was nothing, because guess what. When you die, you're not the one who has to deal with the aftermath of it, the people you leave behind are."

Her statement left Steve speechless, and he felt like an ass for being his stubborn self. "Plus, I _really_ don't like hospitals."

Wanting to say something to make up for being an ass, he opened his mouth to apologise, but was interrupted by the nurse walking back into the room to bring him up to CT.

"I'll let you know when he's done," she smiled at Grace before rolling him out of the room.

* * *

Due to the hospital being busy during the weekend, Steve's CT and x-ray took a lot longer than it should have, and Grace was on her last bit on patience. About to head to radiology to see if he'd even gotten the scans yes, the nurse from earlier appeared and walked over to her.

"You were right about the ribs and the spleen. The rupture is so small that the bleeding will stop on its own and he also has a concussion, so he'll need to be waken up every two hours and kept under observation for a little while."

"Can I see him?" she asked, her voice shaky.

"Of course, he's in room 705." The nurse smiled at her, before walking past Grace and down the hall to the nurse's station.

Taking a minute to collect her thoughts, Grace just stood in the hallway and stared at the wall. It had been a long time since she'd felt the amount of fear that washed over her when she got a phone call from Danny saying Steve was hurt and they were bringing him back to the island so he could be checked out at the hospital. She didn't know what to think about it. She hated being scared and not being in control of things. Both of which she felt with Steve.

Knowing that if she though more about it she'd drive herself crazy, she took a deep breath and started walking to Steve's hospital room.

As she entered his room Steve was sitting in his hospital bed, changing between the limited choices of channels on the tv. "Hey," Grace said softly, while walking over to his bed and sitting down in the chair next to it. "Hi," he smiled at her. "So you were right, about my injuries." He carefully said, still remembering the eeriness he'd felt earlier when he'd brushed of the severeness of his injuries and Grace hadn't taken it well.

"Thankfully they're not too serious," she almost whispered. "I'm glad you're fine."

"Thank you for checking on me. If Danny had been the one to be here with me, I probably would have gone home without getting any scans or tests."

"You do realise how stupid that is right. Going home against medical advice? People have died from less."

"I'm not like most people."

"No, you are not. Unlike most people you're so stubborn it's bad for your health. Plus, no one likes a guy that always has to be right." Grace tried to lighten the mood, not liking the way the conversation was going.

Wanting to end the conversation with her half joke, Grace felt a sudden rush of bravery and before she could stop herself she opened her mouth again and started to talk.

"Look, if it hadn't been for the fact that you could've died and are now in the hospital with a ruptured spleen, broken ribs and a concussion I'd probably never tell you this and bury it so deep I could pretend it wasn't there. But I worry. I worry about you. I worry about you not going home at the end of the day. I worry about you getting seriously hurt. I worry about the feeling I get when I talk to you. I worry about the feeling I think I might have for you. I worry… I worry a lot. Which is a first for me, because I've never let myself worry about anyone before. But since the very first time I met you I don't seem to be able to do anything else. And it scares me, because it makes me vulnerable. I hate being vulnerable. That's why I avoided you after the times we kissed and the time on my couch. According to a psychiatrist I spoke to once, I have the appearance and IQ of an adult and the emotional intelligence of prepubescent child. Meaning I don't do well with handling and confronting my feelings and fears and suck at expressing those same things to people. Especially people I don't know very well. So when the urge to get to know you came over me, my brain couldn't handle it and everything went to shit and…" suddenly realising what she'd just revealed, Grace quickly stopped talking and the need to run away creeped up on her.

Surprised by the revelations Grace had just made and thankful for the better knowledge he now had about her and how she works, Steve gave her a smile. "I worry about you to," was all he said as he took one of her trembling hands from her lap and laced his fingers with hers.


	17. Getting aqquainted

Getting acquainted

"Here you guys go," the waitress smiled at Steve and Grace as she put down their coffee and waffles. "Thank you, Gina," Grace smiled back and took a sip of her coffee, her mouth, watering from the smell of freshly baked waffles.

It was the fourth time since Steve had gotten discharged from the hospital after his rather unsuccessful trip to North Korea, that the two of them had had breakfast together at Wailana's. They'd also had lunch once and dinner twice at Kamekona's shrimp truck.

After her confession at the hospital they'd agreed to get to know each other better before ever talking about what was between them, whatever it was. So far it was going good. Grace now understood more why Steve was the way he was and vice versa. At least that's what he thought. As much as Grace wanted to answer all his questions truthfully, she knew she couldn't. Not just for her and her family's sake, but also for his.

"Busy week so far?" Steve asked, taking a bite of his food. With her mouth full of waffles, Grace nodded in reply while quickly chewing and swallowing her food. "We've had three DUI's, five overdoses, two car accident victims, three suicides and one homicide." She answered, washing the food with more coffee before signalling to the waitress for another cup. Raising his brows in in shock and disbelief, Steve finally understood, for the first time, what Grace dealt with on a daily basis. He worked with death too, but she was surrounded by it. "Wow," was all he managed to get out. "Tell me about it," Grace smiled at him.

Sensing Steve felt bad about asking and about the answer he got, Grace decided to change the subject. "Are you going to the Governor's fundraiser next weekend?" she asked, already knowing the answer. "Don't have much of a choice, he is my boss after all. What about you?"

"He sent two invitations to the medical examiner's office, me and Max are going… Separately that is."

"Good."

"Good?"

"That you're going. I've heard they're pretty fun."

"So, have I." Grace smiled at him.

Continuing to sip her coffee, she could sense Steve had something on his mind, but she didn't want to pry. Deciding to ask him something instead she took a deep breath, not sure how her question would be received.

"You bringing a date?" she cautiously asked.

"No, you?" hearing him say no, made Grace happier than she'd ever admit no anyone.

"Me and Tommy usually go together to these types of things since neither of us are fond of them, but seeing as he has a girlfriend, no. I am not."

"The Governor is getting me a driver to and from the fundraiser, if you'd like we could carpool. Your house is on the way so…"

Sensing he was very confident in his question Grace decided to do something she'd never usually do.

"Sure, that would be nice."

* * *

 _ **Sooo, this chapter is being published a little later than what I had planned, but it's here now.**_

 _ **I know it extremely shorter than the other chapters and that it consists mostly of dialogue, which was the point. The purpose of the chapter is to be a filler before the next chapter and to explain why Steve and Grace are going to the fundraiser together.**_

 _ **Hope you liked it, like always reviews are welcomed with open arms.**_

 _ **XOXO Hannah**_


End file.
